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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient
+Eastern World, Vol 7. (of 7): The Sassanian or New Persian Empire, by George Rawlinson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 7. (of 7): The Sassanian or New Persian Empire
+       The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea,
+       Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian
+       or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.
+
+Author: George Rawlinson
+
+Illustrator: George Rawlinson
+
+Release Date: July 1, 2005 [EBook #16167]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES
+
+OF THE
+
+ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD;
+
+
+OR,
+
+
+THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDAEA, ASSYRIA
+
+BABYLON, MEDIA, PERSIA, PARTHIA, AND SASSANIAN,
+
+OR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE.
+
+
+BY
+
+GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A.,
+
+CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
+
+
+
+IN THREE VOLUMES.
+
+
+
+VOLUME III.
+
+
+
+WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH MONARCHY
+
+
+HISTORY OF THE SASSANIAN OR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE.
+
+
+[Illustration: MAP]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+_Condition of the Persians under the Successors of Alexander--under
+the Arsacidce. Favor shown them by the latter--allowed to have Kings
+of their own. Their Religion at first held in honor. Power of their
+Priests. Gradual Change of Policy on the part of the Parthian Monarchs,
+and final Oppression of the Magi. Causes which produced the Insurrection
+of Artaxerxes._
+
+
+"The Parthians had been barbarians; they had ruled over a nation
+far more civilized than themselves, and had oppressed them and their
+religion."
+
+Niebuhr, Lectures on Roman History, vol. iii. p. 270.
+
+
+When the great Empire of the Persians, founded by Cyrus, collapsed under
+the attack of Alexander the Great, the dominant race of Western Asia did
+not feel itself at the first reduced to an intolerable condition. It
+was the benevolent design of Alexander to fuse into one the two leading
+peoples of Europe and Asia, and to establish himself at the head of a
+Perso-Hellenic State, the capital of which was to have been Babylon. Had
+this idea been carried out, the Persians would, it is evident, have lost
+but little by their subjugation. Placed on a par with the Greeks, united
+with them in marriage bonds, and equally favored by their common ruler,
+they could scarcely have uttered a murmur, or have been seriously
+discontented with their position. But when the successors of the great
+Macedonian, unable to rise to the height of his grand conception, took
+lower ground, and, giving up the idea of a fusion, fell back upon
+the ordinary status, and proceeded to enact the ordinary role, of
+conquerors, the feelings of the late lords of Asia, the countrymen of
+Cyrus and Darius, must have undergone a complete change. It had been the
+intention of Alexander to conciliate and elevate the leading Asiatics
+by uniting them with the Macedonians and the Greeks, by promoting social
+intercourse between the two classes of his subjects and encouraging them
+to intermarry, by opening his court to Asiatics, by educating then in
+Greek ideas and in Greek schools, by promoting them to high employments,
+and making them feel that they were as much valued and as well cared for
+as the people of the conquering race: it was the plan of the Seleucidae
+to govern wholly by means of European officials, Greek or Macedonian,
+and to regard and treat the entire mass of their Asiatic subjects as
+mere slaves. Alexander had placed Persian satraps over most of the
+provinces, attaching to them Greek or Macedonian commandants as checks.
+Seloucus divided his empire into seventy-two satrapies; but among his
+satraps not one was an Asiatic--all were either Macedonians or Greeks.
+Asiatics, indeed, formed the bulk of his standing army, and so far were
+admitted to employment; they might also, no doubt, be tax-gatherers,
+couriers, scribes, constables, and officials of that mean stamp; but
+they were as carefully excluded from all honorable and lucrative offices
+as the natives of Hindustan under the rule of the East India Company.
+The standing army of the Seleucidae was wholly officered, just as was
+that of our own Sepoys, by Europeans; Europeans thronged the court,
+and filled every important post under the government. There cannot be
+a doubt that such a high-spirited and indeed arrogant people as the
+Persians must have fretted and chafed under this treatment, and have
+detested the nation and dynasty which had thrust them down from their
+pre-eminence and converted them from masters into slaves. It would
+scarcely much tend to mitigate the painfulness of their feelings that
+they could not but confess their conquerors to be a civilized
+people--as civilized, perhaps more civilized than themselves--since the
+civilization was of a type and character which did not please them
+or command their approval. There is an essential antagonism between
+European and Asiatic ideas and modes of thought, such as seemingly
+to preclude the possibility of Asiatics appreciating a European
+civilization. The Persians must have felt towards the Greco-Macedonians
+much as the Mohammedans of India feel towards ourselves--they may have
+feared and even respected them--but they must have very bitterly hated
+them. Nor was the rule of the Seleucidae such as to overcome by its
+justice or its wisdom the original antipathy of the dispossessed lords
+of Asia towards those by whom they had been ousted. The satrapial
+system, which these monarchs lazily adopted from their predecessors,
+the Achaemenians, is one always open to great abuses, and needs the
+strictest superintendence and supervision. There is no reason to believe
+that any sufficient watch was kept over their satraps by the
+Seleucid kings, or even any system of checks established, such as
+the Achaemenidae had, at least in theory, set up and maintained. The
+Greco-Macedonian governors of provinces seem to have been left to
+themselves almost entirely, and to have been only controlled in the
+exercise of their authority by their own notions of what was right or
+expedient. Under these circumstances, abuses were sure to creep in; and
+it is not improbable that gross outrages were sometimes perpetrated by
+those in power--outrages calculated to make the blood of a nation boil,
+and to produce a keen longing for vengeance. We have no direct evidence
+that the Persians of the time did actually suffer from such a misuse of
+satrapial authority; but it is unlikely that they entirely escaped the
+miseries which are incidental to the system in question. Public opinion
+ascribed the grossest acts of tyranny and oppression to some of the
+Seleucid satraps; probably the Persians were not exempt from the common
+lot of the subject races.
+
+Moreover, the Seleucid monarchs themselves were occasionally guilty of
+acts of tyranny, which must have intensified the dislike wherewith
+they were regarded by their Asiatic subjects. The reckless conduct
+of Antiochus Epiphanes towards the Jews is well known; but it is not
+perhaps generally recognized that intolerance and impious cupidity
+formed a portion of the system on which he governed. There seems,
+however, to be good reason to believe that, having exhausted his
+treasury by his wars and his extravagances, Epiphanes formed a general
+design of recruiting it by means of the plunder of his subjects. The
+temples of the Asiatics had hitherto been for the most part respected by
+their European conquerors, and large stores of the precious metals
+were accumulated in them. Epiphanes saw in these hoards the means of
+relieving his own necessities, and determined to seize and confiscate
+them. Besides plundering the Temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem, he made a
+journey into the southeastern portion of his empire, about B.C. 165, for
+the express purpose of conducting in person the collection of the sacred
+treasures. It was while he was engaged in this unpopular work that a
+spirit of disaffection showed itself; the East took arms no less than
+the West; and in Persia, or upon its borders, the avaricious monarch was
+forced to retire before the opposition which his ill-judged measures had
+provoked, and to allow one of the doomed temples to escape him. When he
+soon afterwards sickened and died, the natives of this part of Asia saw
+in his death a judgment upon him for his attempted sacrilege.
+
+It was within twenty years of this unfortunate attempt that the dominion
+of the Seleucidae over Persia and the adjacent countries came to an end.
+The Parthian Empire had for nearly a century been gradually growing in
+power and extending itself at the expense of the Syro-Macedonian; and,
+about B.C. 163, an energetic prince, Mithridates I., commenced a series
+of conquests towards the West, which terminated (about B.C. 150) in
+the transference from the Syro-Macedonian to the Parthian rule of Media
+Magna, Susiana, Persia, Babylonia, and Assyria Proper. It would seem
+that the Persians offered no resistance to the progress of the new
+conqueror. The Seleucidae had not tried to conciliate their attachment,
+and it was impossible that they should dislike the rupture of ties which
+had only galled hitherto. Perhaps their feeling, in prospect of the
+change, was one of simple indifference. Perhaps it was not without some
+stir of satisfaction and complacency that they saw the pride of the
+hated Europeans abased, and a race, which, however much it might differ
+from their own, was at least Asiatic, installed in power. The Parthia
+system, moreover, was one which allowed greater liberty to the subject
+races than the Macedonian, as it had been understood and carried out by
+the Seleucidae; and so far some real gain was to be expected from the
+change. Religious motives must also have conspired to make the Persians
+sympathize with the new power, rather than with that which for centuries
+had despised their faith and had recently insulted it.
+
+The treatment of the Persians by their Parthian lords seems, on the
+whole, to have been marked by moderation. Mithridates indeed, the
+original conqueror, is accused of having alienated his new subjects by
+the harshness of his rule; and in the struggle which occurred between
+him and the Seleucid king, Demetrius II., Persians, as well as
+Elymseans and Bactrians, are said to have fought on the side of the
+Syro-Macedonian. But this is the only occasion in Parthian history,
+between the submission of Persia and the great revolt under Artaxerxes,
+where there is any appearance of the Persians regarding their masters
+with hostile feelings. In general they show themselves submissive and
+contented with their position, which was certainly, on the whole, a less
+irksome one than they had occupied under the Seleucidae.
+
+It was a principle of the Parthian governmental system to allow the
+subject peoples, to a large extent, to govern themselves. These peoples
+generally, and notably the Persians, were ruled by native kings, who
+succeeded to the throne by hereditary right, had the full power of life
+and death, and ruled very much as they pleased, so long as they paid
+regularly the tribute imposed upon them by the "King of Kings," and sent
+him a respectable contingent when he was about to engage in a military
+expedition. Such a system implies that the conquered peoples have
+the enjoyment of their own laws and institutions, are exempt from
+troublesome interference, and possess a sort of semi-independence.
+Oriental nations, having once assumed this position, are usually
+contented with it, and rarely make any effort to better themselves. It
+would seem that, thus far at any rate, the Persians could not complain
+of the Parthian rule, but must have been fairly satisfied with their
+condition.
+
+Again, the Greco-Macedonians had tolerated, but they had not viewed with
+much respect, the religion which they had found established in Persia.
+Alexander, indeed, with the enlightened curiosity which characterised
+him, had made inquiries concerning, the tenets of the Magi, and
+endeavored to collect in one the writings of Zoroaster. But the
+later monarchs, and still more their subjects, had held the system
+in contempt, and, as we have seen, Epiphanes had openly insulted the
+religious feelings of his Asiatic subjects. The Parthians, on the other
+hand, began at any rate with a treatment of the Persian religion which
+was respectful and gratifying. Though perhaps at no time very sincere
+Zoroastrians, they had conformed to the State religion under the
+Achaemenian kings; and when the period came that they had themselves to
+establish a system of government, they gave to the Magian hierarchy
+a distinct and important place in their governmental machinery. The
+council, which advised the monarch, and which helped to elect and (if
+need were) depose him, was composed of two elements---the _Sophi_,
+or wise men, who were civilians; and the _Magi_, or priests of the
+Zoroastrian religion. The Magi had thus an important political status in
+Parthia, during the early period of the Empire; but they seem gradually
+to have declined in favor, and ultimately to have fallen into disrepute.
+The Zoroastrian creed was, little by little, superseded among the
+Parthians by a complex idolatry, which, beginning with an image-worship
+of the Sun and Moon, proceeded to an association with those deities of
+the deceased kings of the nation, and finally added to both a worship
+of ancestral idols, which formed the most cherished possession of each
+family, and practically monopolized the religious sentiment. All the old
+Zoroastrian practices were by degrees laid aside. In Armenia the Arsacid
+monarchs allowed the sacred fire of Ormazd to become extinguished; and
+in their own territories the Parthian Arsacidae introduced the practice,
+hateful to Zoroastrians, of burning the dead. The ultimate religion of
+these monarchs seems in fact to have been a syncretism wherein Sabaism,
+Confucianism, Greco-Macedonian notions, and an inveterate primitive
+idolatry were mixed together. It is not impossible that the very names
+of Ormazd and Ahriman had ceased to be known at the Parthian Court, or
+were regarded as those of exploded deities, whose dominion over men's
+minds had passed away.
+
+On the other hand, in Persia itself, and to some extent doubtless among
+the neighboring countries, Zoroastrianism (or what went by the name)
+had a firm hold on the religious sentiments of the multitude, who viewed
+with disfavor the tolerant and eclectic spirit which animated the Court
+of Ctesiphon. The perpetual fire, kindled, as it was, from heaven, was
+carefully tended and preserved on the fire-altars of the Persian holy
+places; the Magian hierarchy was held in the highest repute, the kings
+themselves (as it would seem) not disdaining to be Magi; the ideas--even
+perhaps the forms--of Ormazd and Ahriman were familiar to all;
+image-worship was abhorred the sacred writings in the Zend or most
+ancient Iranian language were diligently preserved and multiplied; a
+pompous ritual was kept up; the old national religion, the religion of
+the Achaemenians, of the glorious period of Persian ascendency in Asia,
+was with the utmost strictness maintained, probably the more zealously
+as it fell more and more into disfavor with the Parthians.
+
+The consequence of this divergence of religious opinion between the
+Persians and their feudal lords must undoubtedly have been a certain
+amount of alienation and discontent. The Persian Magi must have been
+especially dissatisfied with the position of their brethren at Court;
+and they would doubtless use their influence to arouse the indignation
+of their countrymen generally. But it is scarcely probable that this
+cause alone would have produced any striking result. Religious sympathy
+rarely leads men to engage in important wars, unless it has the support
+of other concurrent motives. To account for the revolt of the Persians
+against their Parthian lords under Artaxerxes, something more is needed
+than the consideration of the religious differences which separated the
+two peoples.
+
+First, then, it should be borne in mind that the Parthian rule must have
+been from the beginning distasteful to the Persians, owing to the rude
+and coarse character of the people. At the moment of Mithridates's
+successes, the Persians might experience a sentiment of satisfaction
+that the European invader was at last thrust back, and that Asia had
+re-asserted herself; but a very little experience of Parthian rule was
+sufficient to call forth different feelings. There can be no doubt that
+the Parthians, whether they were actually Turanians or no, were, in
+comparison with the Persians, unpolished and uncivilized. They showed
+their own sense of this inferiority by an affectation of Persian
+manners. But this affectation was not very successful. It is evident
+that in art, in architecture, in manners, in habits of life, the
+Parthian race reached only a low standard; they stood to their Hellenic
+and Iranian subjects in much the same relation that the Turks of the
+present day stand to the modern Greeks; they made themselves respected
+by their strength and their talent for organization; but in all that
+adorns and beautifies life they were deficient. The Persians must,
+during the whole time of their subjection to Parthia, have been sensible
+of a feeling of shame at the want of refinement and of a high type of
+civilization in their masters.
+
+Again, the later sovereigns of the Arsacid dynasty were for the most
+part of weak and contemptible character. From the time of Volagases
+I. to that of Artabanus IV., the last king, the military reputation
+of Parthia had declined. Foreign enemies ravaged the territories
+of Parthian vassal kings, and retired when they chose, unpunished.
+Provinces revolted and established their independence. Rome was
+entreated to lend assistance to her distressed and afflicted rival, and
+met the entreaties with a refusal. In the wars which still from time
+to time were waged between the two empires Parthia was almost uniformly
+worsted. Three times her capital was occupied, and once her monarch's
+summer palace was burned. Province after province had to be ceded to
+Rome. The golden throne which symbolized her glory and magnificence was
+carried off. Meanwhile feuds raged between the different branches of
+the Arsacid family; civil wars were frequent; two or three monarchs at a
+time claimed the throne, or actually ruled in different portions of the
+Empire. It is not surprising that under these circumstances the bonds
+were loosened between Parthia and her vassal kingdoms, or that the
+Persian tributary monarchs began to despise their suzerains, and to
+contemplate without alarm the prospect of a rebellion which should place
+them in an independent position.
+
+While the general weakness of the Arsacid monarchs was thus a cause
+naturally leading to a renunciation of their allegiance on the part of
+the Persians, a special influence upon the decision taken by Artaxerxes
+is probably to be assigned to one, in particular, of the results of that
+weakness. When provinces long subject to Parthian rule revolted, and
+revolted successfully, as seems to have been the case with Hyrcania, and
+partially with Bactria, Persia could scarcely for very shame continue
+submissive. Of all the races subject to Parthia, the Persians were the
+one which had held the most brilliant position in the past, and which
+retained the liveliest remembrance of its ancient glories. This is
+evidenced not only by the grand claims which Artaxorxes put forward
+in his early negotiations with the Romans, but by the whole course of
+Persian literature, which has fundamentally an historic character, and
+exhibits the people as attached, almost more than any other Oriental
+nation, to the memory of its great men and of their noble achievements.
+The countrymen of Cyrus, of Darius, of Xerxes, of Ochus, of the
+conquerors of Media, Bactria, Babylon, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, of the
+invaders of Scythia and Greece, aware that they had once borne sway
+over the whole region between Tunis and the Indian Desert, between the
+Caucasus and the Cataracts, when they saw a petty mountain clan, like
+the Hyrcanians, establish and maintain their independence despite the
+efforts of Parthia to coerce them, could not very well remain quiet. If
+so weak and small a race could defy the power of the Arsacid monarchs,
+much more might the far more numerous and at least equally courageous
+Persians expect to succeed, if they made a resolute attempt to recover
+their freedom.
+
+It is probable that Artaxerxes, in his capacity of vassal, served
+personally in the army with which the Parthian monarch Artabanus carried
+on the struggle against Rome, and thus acquired the power of estimating
+correctly the military strength still possessed by the Arsacidae, and of
+measuring it against that which he knew to belong to his nation. It
+is not unlikely that he formed his plans during the earlier period of
+Artabanus's reign, when that monarch allowed himself to be imposed upon
+by Caracallus, and suffered calamities and indignities in consequence
+of his folly. When the Parthian monarch atoned for his indiscretion
+and wiped out the memory of his disgraces by the brilliant victory of
+Nisibis and the glorious peace which he made with Macrinus, Artaxerxes
+may have found that he had gone too far to recede; or, undazzled by the
+splendor of these successes, he may still have judged that he might
+with prudence persevere in his enterprise. Artabanus had suffered great
+losses in his two campaigns against Rome, and especially in the three
+days' battle of Nisibis. He was at variance with several princes of his
+family, one of whom certainly maintained himself during his whole reign
+with the State and title of "King of Parthia." Though he had fought
+well at Nisibis, he had not given any indications of remarkable military
+talent. Artaxerxes, having taken the measure of his antagonist during
+the course of the Roman war, having estimated his resources and formed
+a decided opinion on the relative strength of Persia and Parthia,
+deliberately resolved, a few years after the Roman war had come to an
+end, to revolt and accept the consequences. He was no doubt convinced
+that his nation would throw itself enthusiastically into the struggle,
+and he believed that he could conduct it to a successful issue. He felt
+himself the champion of a depressed, if not an oppressed, nationality,
+and had faith in his power to raise it into a lofty position. Iran,
+at any rate, should no longer, he resolved, submit patiently to be the
+slave of Turan; the keen, intelligent, art-loving Aryan people should no
+longer bear submissively the yoke of the rude, coarse, clumsy Scyths. An
+effort after freedom should be made. He had little doubt of the result.
+The Persians, by the strength of their own right arms and the blessing
+of Ahuramazda, the "All-bounteous," would triumph over their impious
+masters, and become once more a great and independent people. At the
+worst, if he had miscalculated, there would be the alternative of
+a glorious death upon the battle-field in one of the noblest of all
+causes, the assertion of a nation's freedom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+_Situation and Size of Persia. General Character of the Country and
+Climate. Chief Products. Characteristics of the Persian People, physical
+and moral. Differences observable in the Race at different periods._
+
+
+Persia Proper was a tract of country lying on the Gulf to which it has
+given name, and extending about 450 miles from north-west to south-east,
+with an average breadth of about 250 miles. Its entire area may be
+estimated at about a hundred thousand square miles. It was thus larger
+than Great Britain, about the size of Italy, and rather less than half
+the size of France. The boundaries were, on the west, Elymais or Susiana
+(which, however, was sometimes reckoned a part of Persia); on the north,
+Media; on the east, Carmania; and on the south, the sea. It is nearly
+represented in modern times by the two Persian provinces of Farsistan
+and Laristan, the former of which retains, but slightly changed, the
+ancient appellation. The Hindyan or Tab (ancient Oroatis) seems towards
+its mouth to have formed the western limit. Eastward, Persia extended
+to about the site of the modern Bunder Kongo. Inland, the northern
+boundary ran probably a little south of the thirty-second parallel, from
+long. 50 deg. to 55 deg.. The line dividing Persia Proper from Carmania (now
+Kerman) was somewhat uncertain.
+
+The character of the tract is extremely diversified. Ancient writers
+divided the country into three strongly contrasted regions. The first,
+or coast tract, was (they said) a sandy desert, producing nothing but a
+few dates, owing to the intensity of the heat. Above this was a fertile
+region, grassy, with well-watered meadows and numerous vineyards,
+enjoying a delicious climate, producing almost every fruit but the
+olive, containing pleasant parks or "paradises," watered by a number
+of limpid streams and clear lakes, well wooded in places, affording an
+excellent pasture for horses and for all sorts of cattle, abounding
+in water-fowl and game of every kind, and altogether a most delightful
+abode. Beyond this fertile region, towards the north, was a rugged
+mountain tract, cold and mostly covered with snow, of which they did not
+profess to know much.
+
+In this description there is no doubt a certain amount of truth; but it
+is mixed probably with a good deal of exaggeration. There is no reason
+to believe that the climate or character of the country has undergone
+any important alteration between the time of Nearchus or Strabo and the
+present day. At present it is certain that the tract in question answers
+but very incompletely to the description which those writers give of it.
+Three regions may indeed be distinguished, though the natives seem now
+to speak of only two; but none of them corresponds at all exactly to the
+accounts of the Greeks. The coast tract is represented with the nearest
+approach to correctness. This is, in fact, a region of arid plain, often
+impregnated with salt, ill-watered, with a poor soil, consisting either
+of sand or clay, and productive of little besides dates and a few
+other fruits. A modern historian says of it that "it bears a greater
+resemblance in soil and climate to Arabia than to the rest of Persia."
+It is very hot and unhealthy, and can at no time have supported more
+than a sparse and scanty population. Above this, towards the north, is
+the best and most fertile portion of the territory. A mountain tract,
+the continuation of Zagros, succeeds to the flat and sandy coast region,
+occupying the greater portion of Persia Proper. It is about two hundred
+miles in width, and consists of an alternation of mountain, plain,
+and narrow valley, curiously intermixed, and hitherto mapped very
+imperfectly. In places this district answers fully to the description
+of Nearchus, being, "richly fertile, picturesque, and romantic almost
+beyond imagination, with lovely wooded dells, green mountain sides, and
+broad plains, suited for the production of almost any crops." But it is
+only to the smaller moiety of the region that such a character attaches;
+more than half the mountain tract is sterile and barren; the supply of
+water is almost everywhere scanty; the rivers are few, and have not much
+volume; many of them, after short courses, end in the sand, or in small
+salt lakes, from which the superfluous water is evaporated. Much of the
+country is absolutely without streams, and would be uninhabitable were
+it not for the _kanats_ or _kareezes_--subterranean channels made by art
+for the conveyance of spring water to be used in irrigation. The
+most desolate portion of the mountain tract is towards the north and
+north-east, where it adjoins upon the third region, which is the worst
+of the three. This is a portion of the high tableland of Iran, the great
+desert which stretches from the eastern skirts of Zagros to the Hamoon,
+the Helmend, and the river of Subzawur. It is a dry and hard plain,
+intersected at intervals by ranges of rocky hills, with a climate
+extremely hot in summer and extremely cold in winter, incapable of
+cultivation, excepting so far as water can be conveyed by _kanats_,
+which is, of course, only a short distance. The fox, the jackal, the
+antelope, and the wild ass possess this sterile and desolate tract,
+where "all is dry and cheerless," and verdure is almost unknown.
+
+Perhaps the two most peculiar districts of. Persia are the lake basins
+of Neyriz and Deriah-i-Nemek. The rivers given off from the northern
+side of the great mountain chain between the twenty-ninth and
+thirty-first parallels, being unable to penetrate the mountains, flow
+eastward towards the desert; and their waters gradually collect into two
+streams, which end in two lakes, the Deriah-i-Nemek and that of Neyriz,
+or Lake Bakhtigan. The basin of Lake Neyriz lies towards the north. Here
+the famous Bendamir, and the Pulwar or Kur-ab, flowing respectively from
+the north-east and the north, unite in one near the ruins of the ancient
+Persepolis, and, after fertilizing the plain of Merdasht, run eastward
+down a rich vale for a distance of some forty miles into the salt lake
+which swallows them up. This lake, when full, has a length of fifty or
+sixty miles, with a breadth of from three to six. In summer, however,
+it is often quite dry, the water of the Bendamir being expended in
+irrigation before reaching its natural terminus. The valley and plain of
+the Bendamir, and its tributaries, are among the most fertile portions
+of Persia, as well as among those of most historic interest.
+
+The basin of the Deriah-i-Nemek is smaller than that of the Neyriz, but
+it is even more productive. Numerous brooks and streams, rising not far
+from Shiraz, run on all sides into the Nemek lake, which has a length
+of about fifteen and a breadth of three or three and a half miles. Among
+the streams is the celebrated brook of Hafiz, the Rocknabad, which still
+retains "its singular transparency and softness to the taste." Other
+rills and fountains of extreme clearness abound, and a verdure is the
+result, very unusual in Persia. The vines grown in the basin produce
+the famous Shiraz wine, the only good wine which is manufactured in the
+East. The orchards are magnificent. In the autumn "the earth is covered
+with the gathered harvest, flowers, and fruits; melons, peaches, pears,
+nectarines, cherries, grapes, pomegranates; all is a garden, abundant in
+sweets and refreshment."
+
+But, notwithstanding the exceptional fertility of the Shiraz plain
+and of a few other places, Persia Proper seems to have been rightly
+characterized in ancient times as "a scant land and a rugged." Its area
+was less than a fifth of the area of modern Persia; and of this space
+nearly one half was uninhabitable, consisting either of barren stony
+mountain or of scorching sandy plain, ill supplied with water and often
+impregnated with salt. Its products, consequently, can have been at no
+time either very abundant or very varied. Anciently, the low coast tract
+seems to have been cultivated to a small extent in corn, and to have
+produced good dates and a few other fruits. The mountain region was, as
+we have seen, celebrated for its excellent pastures, for its abundant
+fruits, and especially for its grapes. Within the mountains, on the
+high plateau, assafoetida (silphium) was found, and probably some other
+medicinal herbs. Corn, no doubt, could be grown largely in the plains
+and valleys of the mountain tract, as well as on the plateau, so far as
+the _kanats_ carried the water. There must have been, on the whole, a
+deficiency of timber, though the palms of the low tract, and the oaks,
+planes, chenars or sycamores, poplars, and willows of the mountain
+regions sufficed for the wants of the natives. Not much fuel was
+required, and stone was the general material used for building. Among
+the fruits for which Persia was famous are especially noted the peach,
+the walnut, and the citron. The walnut bore among the Romans the
+appellation of "royal."
+
+Persia, like Media, was a good nursery for horses. Fine grazing grounds
+existed in many parts of the mountain region, and for horses of the Arab
+breed even the Deshtistan was not unsuited. Camels were reared in some
+places, and sheep and goats were numerous. Horned cattle were probably
+not so abundant, as the character of the country is not favorable
+for them. Game existed in large quantities, the lakes abounding with
+water-fowl, such as ducks, teal, heron, snipe, etc.; and the wooded
+portions of the mountain tract giving shelter to the stag, the wild
+goat, the wild boar, the hare, the pheasant, and the heathcock, fish
+were also plentiful. Whales visited the Persian Gulf, and were sometimes
+stranded upon the shores, where their carcases furnished a mine of
+wealth to the inhabitants. Dolphins abounded, as well as many smaller
+kinds; and shell-fish, particularly oysters, could always be obtained
+without difficulty. The rivers, too, were capable of furnishing
+fresh-water fish in good quantity, though we cannot say if this source
+of supply was utilized in antiquity.
+
+The mineral treasures of Persia were fairly numerous. Good salt was
+yielded by the lakes of the middle region, and was also obtainable upon
+the plateau. Bitumen and naphtha were produced by sources in the low
+country. The mountains contained most of the important metals and a
+certain number of valuable gems. The pearls of the Gulf acquired early a
+great reputation, and a regular fishery was established for them before
+the time of Alexander.
+
+But the most celebrated of all the products of Persia were its men. The
+"scant and rugged country" gave birth, as Cyrus the Great is said to
+have observed,  to a race brave, hardy, and enduring, calculated not
+only to hold its own against aggressors, but to extend its sway and
+exercise dominion over the Western Asiatics generally. The Aryan
+family is the one which, of all the races of mankind, is the most
+self-asserting, and has the greatest strength, physical, moral, and
+intellectual. The Iranian branch of it, whereto the Persians belonged,
+is not perhaps so gifted as some others; but it has qualities which
+place it above most of those by which Western Asia was anciently
+peopled. In the primitive times, from Cyrus the Great to Darius
+Hystaspis, the Persians seem to have been rude mountaineers, probably
+not very unlike the modern Kurds and Lurs, who inhabit portions of
+the same chain which forms the heart of the Persian country. Their
+physiognomy was handsome. A high straight forehead, a long slightly
+aquiline nose, a short and curved upper lip, a well-rounded chin,
+characterized the Persian. The expression of his face was grave and
+noble. He had abundant hair, which he wore very artificially arranged.
+Above and round the brow it was made to stand away from the face in
+short crisp curls; on the top of the head it was worn smooth; at the
+back of the head it was again trained into curls, which followed each
+other in several rows from the level of the forehead to the nape of the
+neck. The moustache was always cultivated, and curved in a gentle sweep.
+A beard and whiskers were worn, the former sometimes long and pendent,
+like the Assyrian, but more often clustering around the chin in short
+close curls. The figure was well-formed, but somewhat stout; the
+carriage was dignified and simple. [PLATE XI, Fig. 1.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 11.]
+
+
+Simplicity of manners prevailed during this period. At the court there
+was some luxury; but the bulk of the nation, living in their mountain
+territory, and attached to agriculture and hunting, maintained the
+habits of their ancestors, and were a somewhat rude though not a coarse
+people. The dress commonly worn was a close-fitting shirt or tunic of
+leather, descending to the knee, and with sleeves that reached down to
+the wrist. Round the tunic was worn a belt or sash, which was tied in
+front. The head was protected by a loose felt cap and the feet by a sort
+of high shoe or low boot. The ordinary diet was bread and cress-seed,
+while the sole beverage was water. In the higher ranks, of course, a
+different style of living prevailed; the elegant and flowing "Median
+robe" was worn; flesh of various kinds was eaten; much wine was
+consumed; and meals were extended to a great length; The Persians,
+however, maintained during this period a general hardihood and bravery
+which made them the most dreaded adversaries of the Greeks, and enabled
+them to maintain an unquestioned dominion over the other native races of
+Western Asia.
+
+As time went on, and their monarchs became less warlike, and wealth
+accumulated, and national spirit decayed, the Persian character by
+degrees deteriorated, and sank, even under the Achaemenian kings, to
+a level not much superior to that of the ordinary Asiatic. The Persian
+antagonists of Alexander were pretty nearly upon a par with the races
+which in Hindustan have yielded to the British power; they occasionally
+fought with gallantry, but they were deficient in resolution, in
+endurance, in all the elements of solid strength; and they were
+quite unable to stand their ground against the vigor and dash of the
+Macedonians and the Greeks. Whether physically they were very different
+from the soldiers of Cyrus may be doubted, but morally they had fallen
+far below the ancient standard; their self-respect their love of
+country, their attachment to their monarch had diminished; no one showed
+any great devotion to the cause for which he fought; after two defeats
+the empire wholly collapsed; and the Persians submitted, apparently
+without much reluctance, to the Helleno-Macedonian yoke.
+
+Five centuries and a half of servitude could not much improve or elevate
+the character of the people. Their fall from power, their loss of wealth
+and of dominion did indeed advantage them in one way: it but an end to
+that continually advancing sloth and luxury which had sapped the virtue
+of the nation, depriving it of energy, endurance, and almost every manly
+excellence. It dashed the Persians back upon the ground whence they had
+sprung, and whence, Antseus-like, they proceeded to derive fresh vigor
+and vital force. In their "scant and rugged" fatherland, the people of
+Cyrus once more recovered to a great extent their ancient prowess and
+hardihood--their habits became simplified, their old patriotism revived,
+their self-respect grew greater. But while adversity thus in some
+respects proved its "sweet uses" upon them, there were other respects
+in which submission to the yoke of the Greeks, and still more to that of
+the Parthians, seems to have altered them for the worse rather than
+for the better. There is a coarseness and rudeness about the Sassanian
+Persians which we do not observe in Achaemenian times. The physique of
+the nation is not indeed much altered. Nearly the same countenance meets
+us in the sculptures of Artaxerxes, the son of Babek, of Sapor, and of
+their successors, with which we are familiar from the bas-reliefs of
+Darius Hystapis and Xerxes. There is the same straight forehead, the
+same aquiline nose, the same well-shaped mouth, the same abundant hair.
+The form is, however, coarser and clumsier; the expression is less
+refined; and the general effect produced is that the people have, even
+physically, deteriorated. The mental and aesthetic standard seems still
+more to have sunk. There is no evidence that the Persians of Sassanian
+times possessed the governmental and administrative ability of Darius
+Hystapis or Artaxerxes Ochus. Their art, though remarkable, considering
+the almost entire disappearance of art from Western Asia under the
+Parthians, is, compared with that of Achaemenian times, rude and
+grotesque. In architecture, indeed, they are not without merit though
+even here the extent to which they were indebted to the Parthians, which
+cannot be exactly determined, must lessen our estimation of them; but
+their mimetic art, while not wanting in spirit, is remarkably coarse and
+unrefined. As a later chapter will be devoted to this subject, no more
+need be said upon it here. It is sufficient for our present purpose to
+note that the impression which we obtain from the monumental remains of
+the Sassanian Persians accords with what is to be gathered of them from
+the accounts of the Romans and the Greeks. The great Asiatic revolution
+of the year A.D. 226 marks a revival of the Iranic nationality from the
+depressed state into which it had sunk for more than five hundred years;
+but the revival is not full or complete. The Persians of the Sassanian
+kingdom are not equal to those of the time between Cyrus the Great
+and Darius Codomannus; they have ruder manners, a grosser taste, less
+capacity for government and organization; they have, in fact, been
+coarsened by centuries of Tartar rule; they are vigorous, active,
+energetic, proud, brave; but in civilization and refinement they do
+not rank much above their Parthian predecessors. Western Asia gained,
+perhaps, something, but it did not gain much, from the substitution of
+the Persians for the Parthians as the dominant power. The change is the
+least marked among the revolutions which the East underwent between the
+accession of Cyrus and the conquests of Timour. But it is a change, on
+the whole, for the better. It is accompanied by a revival of art, by
+improvements in architecture; it inaugurates a religious revolution
+which has advantages. Above all, it saves the East from stagnation. It
+is one among many of those salutary shocks which, in the political as in
+the natural world, are needed from time to time to stimulate action and
+prevent torpor and apathy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+_Reign of Artaxerxes I. Stories told of him. Most probable account of
+his Descent, Rank, and Parentage. His Contest with Artabanus. First War
+with Chosroes of Armenia. Contest with Alexander Severus. Second War
+with Chosroes and conquest of Armenia. Religious Reforms. Internal
+Administration and Government. Art. Coinage. Inscriptions._
+
+
+Around the cradle of an Oriental sovereign who founds a dynasty there
+cluster commonly a number of traditions, which have, more or less, a
+mythical character. The tales told of the Great, which even Herodotus
+set aside as incredible, have their parallels in narratives that were
+current within one or two centuries with respect to the founder of the
+Second Persian Empire, which would not have disgraced the mythologers
+of Achaemenian times. Artaxerxes, according to some, was the son of a
+common soldier who had an illicit connection with the wife of a Persian
+cobbler and astrologer, a certain Babek or Papak, an inhabitant of the
+Cadusian country and a man of the lowest class. Papak, knowing by his
+art that the soldier's son would attain a lofty position, voluntarily
+ceded his rights as husband to the favorite of fortune, and bred up as
+his own the issue of this illegitimate commerce, who, when he attained
+to manhood, justified Papak's foresight by successfully revolting from
+Artabanus and establishing the new Persian monarchy. Others said that
+the founder of the new kingdom was a Parthian satrap, the son of a
+noble, and that, having long meditated revolt, he took the final plunge
+in consequence of a prophecy uttered by Artabanus, who was well skilled
+in magical arts, and saw in the stars that the Parthian empire was
+threatened with destruction. Artabanus, on a certain occasion, when he
+communicated this prophetic knowledge to his wife, was overheard by one
+of her attendants, a noble damsel named Artaducta, already affianced to
+Artaxerxes and a sharer in his secret counsels. At her instigation
+he hastened his plans, raised the standard of revolt, and upon the
+successful issue of his enterprise made her his queen. Miraculous
+circumstances were freely interwoven with these narratives, and a result
+was produced which staggered the faith even of such a writer as Moses of
+Chorene, who, desiring to confine himself to what was strictly true and
+certain, could find no more to say of Artaxerxes's birth and origin
+than that he was the son of a certain Sasan, and a native of Istakr, or
+Persepolis.
+
+Even, however, the two facts thus selected as beyond criticism by Moses
+are far from being entitled to implicit credence. Artaxerxes, the son
+of Sasan according to Agathangelus and Moses, is the same as Papak
+(or Babek) in his own and his son's inscriptions. The Persian writers
+generally take the same view, and declare that Sasan was a remoter
+ancestor of Artaxerxes, the acknowledged founder of the family, and not
+Artaxerxes' father. In the extant records of the new Persian Kingdom,
+the coins and the inscriptions, neither Sasan nor the gentilitial term
+derived from it, Sasanidae, has any place; and though it would perhaps
+be rash to question on this account the employment of the term Sasanidae
+by the dynasty, yet we may regard it as really "certain" that the father
+of Artaxerxes was named, not Sasan, but Papak; and that, if the term
+Sasanian was in reality a patronymic, it was derived, like the term
+"Achaemenian," from some remote progenitor whom the royal family of the
+new empire believed to have been their founder.
+
+The native country of Artaxerxes is also variously stated by the
+authorities. Agathangelus calls him an Assyrian, and makes the Assyrians
+play an important part in his rebellion. Agathias says that he was born
+in the Cadusian country, or the low tract south-west of the Caspian,
+which belonged to Media rather than to Assyria or Persia. Dio Cassius,
+and Herodian, the contemporaries of Artaxerxes, call him a Persian;
+and there can be no reasonable doubt that they are correct in so doing.
+Agathangelus allows the predominantly Persian character of his revolt,
+and Agathias is apparently unaware that the Cadusian country was no part
+of Persia. The statement that he was a native of Persepolis (Istakr) is
+first found in Moses of Chorene. It may be true, but it is uncertain;
+for it may have grown out of the earlier statement of Agathangelus, that
+he held the government of the province of Istakr. We can only affirm
+with confidence that the founder of the new Persian monarchy was a
+genuine Persian, without attempting to determine positively what Persian
+city or province had the honor of producing him.
+
+A more interesting question, and one which will be found perhaps to
+admit of a more definite answer, is that of the rank and station in
+which Artaxerxes was born. We have seen that Agathias (writing ab. A.D.
+580) called him the supposititious son of a cobbler. Others spoke of
+him as the child of a shepherd; while some said that his father was "an
+inferior officer in the service of the government." But on the other
+hand, in the inscriptions which Artaxerxes himself setup in the
+neighborhood of Persepolis, he gives his father, Papak, the title of
+"King." Agathangelus calls him a "noble" and "satrap of Persepolitan
+government;" while Herodian seems to speak of him as "king of the
+Persians," before his victories over Artabanus. On the whole, it is
+perhaps most probable that, like Cyrus, he was the hereditary monarch
+of the subject kingdom of Persia, which had always its own princes under
+the Parthians, and that thus he naturally and without effort took the
+leadership of the revolt when circumstances induced his nation to rebel
+and seek to establish its independence. The stories told of his humble
+origin, which are contradictory and improbable, are to be paralleled
+with those which made Cyrus the son of a Persian of moderate rank, and
+the foster-child of a herdsman. There is always in the East a tendency
+towards romance and exaggeration; and when a great monarch emerges from
+a comparatively humble position, the humility and obscurity of his first
+condition are intensified, to make the contrast more striking between
+his original low estate and his ultimate splendor and dignity.
+
+The circumstances of the struggle between Artaxerxes and. Artabanus are
+briefly sketched by Dio Cassius and Agathangelus, while they are related
+more at large by the Persian writers. It is probable that the contest
+occupied a space of four or five years. At first, we are told, Artabanus
+neglected to arouse himself, and took no steps towards crushing the
+rebellion, which was limited to an assertion of the independence of
+Persia Proper, or the province of Fars. After a time the revolted
+vassal, finding himself unmolested, was induced to raise his thoughts
+higher, and commenced a career of conquest. Turning his arms eastward,
+he attacked Kerman (Carmania), and easily succeeded in reducing that
+scantily-peopled tract under his dominion. He then proceeded to menace
+the north, and, making war in that quarter, overran and attached to
+his kingdom some of the outlying provinces of Media. Roused by these
+aggressions, the Parthian monarch at length took the field, collected
+an army consisting in part of Parthians, in part of the Persians who
+continued faithful to him, against his vassal, and, invading Persia,
+soon brought his adversary to a battle. A long and bloody contest
+followed, both sides suffering great losses; but victory finally
+declared itself in favor of Artaxerxes, through the desertion to him,
+during the engagement, of a portion of his enemy's forces. A second
+conflict ensued within a short period, in which the insurgents were even
+more completely successful; the carnage on the side of the Parthians
+was great, the loss of the Persians small; and the great king fled
+precipitately from the field. Still the resources of Parthia were equal
+to a third trial of arms. After a brief pause, Artabanus made a final
+effort to reduce his revolted vassal; and a last engagement took place
+in the plain of Hormuz, which was a portion of the Jerahi valley, in the
+beautiful country between Bebahan and Shuster. Here, after a desperate
+conflict, the Parthian monarch suffered a third and signal defeat;
+his army was scattered; and he himself lost his life in the combat.
+According to some, his death was the result of a hand-to-hand conflict
+with his great antagonist, who, pretending to fly, drew him on, and then
+pierced his heart with an arrow.
+
+The victory of Hormuz gave to Artaxerxes the dominion of the East; but
+it did not secure him this result at once, or without further struggle.
+Artabanus had left sons; and both in Bactria and Armenia there were
+powerful branches of the Arsacid family, which could not see unmoved the
+downfall of their kindred in Parthia. Chosroes, the Armenian monarch,
+was a prince of considerable ability, and is said to have been set
+upon his throne by Artabanus, whose brother he was, according to
+some writers. At any rate he was an Arsacid; and he felt keenly the
+diminution of his own influence involved in the transfer to an alien
+race of the sovereignty wielded for five centuries by the descendants
+of the first Arsaces. He had set his forces in motion, while the contest
+between Artabanus and Artaxerxes was still in progress, in the hope of
+affording substantial help to his relative. But the march of events was
+too rapid for him; and, ere he could strike a blow, he found that the
+time for effectual action had gone by, that Artabanus was no more,
+and that the dominion of Artaxerxes was established over most of the
+countries which had previously formed portions of the Parthian Empire.
+Still, he resolved to continue the struggle; he was on friendly terms
+with Rome, and might count on an imperial contingent; he had some hope
+that the Bactrian Arsacidae would join him; at the worst, he regarded
+his own power as firmly fixed and as sufficient to enable him to
+maintain an equal contest with the new monarchy. Accordingly he took the
+Parthian Arsacids under his protection, and gave them a refuge in the
+Armenian territory. At the same time he negotiated with both Balkh and
+Rome, made arrangements with the barbarians upon his northern frontier
+to lend him aid, and, having collected a large army, invaded the new
+kingdom on the north-west, and gained certain not unimportant successes.
+According to the Armenian historians, Artaxerxes lost Assyria and the
+adjacent regions; Bactria wavered; and, after the struggle had continued
+for a year or two, the founder of the second Persian empire was obliged
+to fly ignominiously to India! But this entire narrative seems to be
+deeply tinged with the vitiating stain of intense national vanity, a
+fault which markedly characterizes the Armenian writers, and renders
+them, when unconfirmed by other authorities, almost worthless. The
+general course of events, and the position which Artaxerxes takes in
+his dealings with Rome (A.D. 229-230), sufficiently indicate that any
+reverses which he sustained at this time in his struggle with Chosroes
+and the unsubmitted Arsacidae must have been trivial, and that they
+certainly had no greater result than to establish the independence
+of Armenia, which, by dint of leaning upon Rome, was able to maintain
+itself against the Persian monarch and to check the advance of the
+Persians in North-Western Asia.
+
+Artaxerxes, however, resisted in this quarter, and unable to overcome
+the resistance, which he may have regarded as deriving its effectiveness
+(in part at least) from the support lent it by Rome, determined (ab.
+A.D. 229) to challenge the empire to an encounter. Aware that Artabanus,
+his late rival, against whom he had measured himself, and whose power he
+had completely overthrown, had been successful in his war with Macrinus,
+had gained the great battle of Nisibis, and forced the Imperial State to
+purchase an ignominious peace by a payment equal to nearly two millions
+of our money, he may naturally have thought that a facile triumph was
+open to his arms in this direction. Alexander Severus, the occupant of
+the imperial throne, was a young man of a weak character, controlled
+in a great measure by his mother, Julia Mamaea, and as yet quite
+undistinguished as a general. The Roman forces in the East were known
+to be licentious and insubordinate; corrupted by the softness of the
+climate and the seductions of Oriental manners, they disregarded the
+restraints of discipline, indulged in the vices which at once enervate
+the frame and lower the moral character, had scant respect for their
+leaders, and seemed a defence which it would be easy to overpower
+and sweep away. Artaxerxes, like other founders of great empires,
+entertained lofty views of his abilities and his destinies; the monarchy
+which he had built up in the space of some five or six years was far
+from contenting him; well read in the ancient history of his nation, he
+sighed after the glorious days of Cyrus the Great and Darius Hystaspis,
+when all Western Asia from the shores of the AEgean to the Indian
+desert, and portions of Europe and Africa, had acknowledged the sway
+of the Persian king. The territories which these princes had ruled he
+regarded as his own by right of inheritance; and we are told that he
+not only entertained, but boldly published, these views. His emissaries
+everywhere declared that their master claimed the dominion of Asia as
+far as the AEgean Sea and the Propontis. It was his duty and his
+mission to recover to the Persians their pristine empire. What Cyrus
+had conquered, what the Persian kings had held from that time until the
+defeat of Codomannus by Alexander, was his by indefeasible right, and he
+was about to take possession of it.
+
+Nor were these brave words a mere _brutum fulmen_. Simultaneously with
+the putting forth of such lofty pretensions the troops of the Persian
+monarch crossed the Tigris and spread themselves over the entire Roman
+province of Mesopotamia, which was rapidly overrun and offered scarcely
+any resistance. Severus learned at the same moment the demands of his
+adversary and the loss of one of his best provinces. He heard that his
+strong posts upon the Euphrates, the old defences of the empire in this
+quarter, were being attacked, and that Syria daily expected the passage
+of the invaders. The crisis was one requiring prompt action; but the
+weak and inexperienced youth was content to meet it with diplomacy, and,
+instead of sending an army to the East, despatched ambassadors to his
+rival with a letter. "Artaxerxes," he said, "ought to confine himself to
+his own territories and not seek to revolutionize Asia; it was unsafe,
+on the strength of mere unsubstantial hopes, to commence a great
+war. Every one should be content with keeping what belonged to him.
+Artaxerxes would find war with Rome a very different thing from the
+contests in which he had been hitherto engaged with barbarous races like
+his own. He should call to mind the successes of Augustus and Trajan,
+and the trophies carried off from the East by Lucius Verus and by
+Septimius Severus."
+
+The counsels of moderation have rarely much effect in restraining
+princely ambition. Artaxerxes replied by an embassy in which he
+ostentatiously displayed the wealth and magnificence of Persia; but,
+so far from making any deduction from his original demands, he now
+distinctly formulated them, and required their immediate acceptance.
+"Artaxerxes, the Great King," he said, "ordered the Romans and their
+ruler to take their departure forthwith from Syria and the rest of
+Western Asia, and to allow the Persians to exercise dominion over Ionia
+and Caria and the other countries within the AEgean and the Euxine,
+since these countries belonged to Persia by right of inheritance." A
+Roman emperor had seldom received such a message; and Alexander,
+mild and gentle as he was by nature, seems to have had his equanimity
+disturbed by the insolence of the mandate. Disregarding the sacredness
+of the ambassadorial character, he stripped the envoys of their
+splendid apparel, treated them as prisoners of war, and settled them as
+agricultural colonists in Phrygia. If we may believe Herodian, he even
+took credit to himself for sparing their lives, which he regarded as
+justly forfeit to the offended majesty of the empire.
+
+Meantime the angry prince, convinced at last against his will that
+negotiations with such an enemy were futile, collected an army and began
+his march towards the East. Taking troops from the various provinces
+through which he passed, he conducted to Antioch, in the autumn of A.D.
+231, a considerable force, which was there augmented by the legions of
+the East and by troops drawn from Egypt and other quarters. Artaxerxes,
+on his part, was not idle. According to Soverus himself, the army
+brought into the field by the Persian monarch consisted of one hundred
+and twenty thousand mailed horsemen, of eighteen hundred scythed
+chariots, and of seven hundred trained elephants, bearing on their backs
+towers filled with archers; and though this pretended host has been
+truly characterized as one "the like of which is not to be found in
+Eastern history, and has scarcely been imagined in Eastern romance,"
+yet, allowing much for exaggeration, we may still safely conclude that
+great exertions had been made on the Persian side, that their forces
+consisted of the three arms mentioned, and that the numbers of each
+were large beyond ordinary precedent. The two adversaries were thus not
+ill-matched; each brought the flower of his troops to the conflict; each
+commanded the army, on which his dependence was placed, in person;
+each looked to obtain from the contest not only an increase of military
+glory, but substantial fruits of victory in the shape of plunder or
+territory.
+
+It might have been expected that the Persian monarch, after the high
+tone which he had taken, would have maintained an aggressive attitude,
+have crossed the Euphrates, and spread the hordes at his disposal over
+Syria, Cappadocia, and Asia Minor. But it seems to be certain that he
+did not do so, and that the initiative was taken by the other side.
+Probably the Persian arms, as inefficient in sieges as the Parthian,
+were unable to overcome the resistance offered by the Roman forts upon
+the great river; and Artaxerxes was too good a general to throw his
+forces into the heart of an enemy's country without having first secured
+a safe retreat. The Euphrates was therefore crossed by his adversary
+in the spring of A.D. 232; the Roman province of Mesopotamia was easily
+recovered; and arrangements were made by which it was hoped to deal the
+new monarchy a heavy blow, if not actually to crush and conquer it.
+
+Alexander divided his troops into three bodies. One division was to
+act towards the north, to take advantage of the friendly disposition
+of Chosroes, king of Armenia, and, traversing his strong mountain
+territory, to direct its attack upon Media, into which Armenia gave a
+ready entrance. Another was to take a southern line, and to threaten
+Persia Proper from the marshy tract about the junction of the Euphrates
+with the Tigris, a portion of the Babylonian territory. The third and
+main division, which was to be commanded by the emperor in person, was
+to act on a line intermediate between the other two, which would conduct
+it to the very heart of the enemy's territory, and at the same time
+allow of its giving effective support to either of the two other
+divisions if they should need it.
+
+The plan of operations appears to have been judiciously constructed,
+and should perhaps be ascribed rather to the friends whom the youthful
+emperor consulted than to his own unassisted wisdom. But the best
+designed plans may be frustrated by unskilfulness or timidity in the
+execution; and it was here, if we may trust the author who alone
+gives us any detailed account of the campaign, that the weakness of
+Alexander's character showed itself. The northern army successfully
+traversed Armenia, and, invading Media, proved itself in numerous small
+actions superior to the Persian force opposed to it, and was able to
+plunder and ravage the entire country at its pleasure. The southern
+division crossed Mesopotamia in safety, and threatened to invade Persia
+Proper. Had Alexander with the third and main division kept faith
+with the two secondary armies, had he marched briskly and combined his
+movements with theirs, the triumph of the Roman arms would have been
+assured. But, either from personal timidity or from an amiable regard
+for the anxieties of his mother Mamsea, he hung back while his right and
+left wings made their advance, and so allowed the enemy to concentrate
+their efforts on these two isolated bodies. The army in Media, favored
+by the rugged character of the country, was able to maintain its ground
+without much difficulty; but that which had advanced by the line of the
+Euphrates and Tigris, and which was still marching through the boundless
+plains of the great alluvium, found itself suddenly beset by a countless
+host, commanded by Artaxerxes in person, and, though it struggled
+gallantly, was overwhelmed and utterly destroyed by the arrows of the
+terrible Persian bowmen. Herodian says, no doubt with some exaggeration,
+that this was the greatest calamity which had ever befallen the Romans.
+It certainly cannot compare with Cannae, with the disaster of Varus, or
+even with the similar defeat of Crassus in a not very distant region.
+But it was (if rightly represented by Herodian) a terrible blow. It
+absolutely determined the campaign. A Caesar or a Trajan might have
+retrieved such a loss. An Alexander Severus was not likely even to make
+an attempt to do so. Already weakened in body by the heat of the climate
+and the unwonted fatigues of war, he was utterly prostrated in spirit by
+the intelligence when it reached him. The signal was at once given for
+retreat. Orders were sent to the _corps d' armee_ which occupied Media
+to evacuate its conquests and to retire forthwith upon the Euphrates.
+These orders were executed, but with difficulty. Winter had already set
+in throughout the high regions; and in its retreat the army of Media
+suffered great losses through the inclemency of the climate, so that
+those who reached Syria were but a small proportion of the original
+force. Alexander himself, and the army which he led, experienced less
+difficulty; but disease dogged the steps of this division, and when its
+columns reached Antioch it was found to be greatly reduced in numbers by
+sickness, though it had never confronted an enemy. The three armies
+of Severus suffered not indeed equally, but still in every case
+considerably, from three distinct causes--sickness, severe weather, and
+marked inferiority to the enemy. The last-named cause had annihilated
+the southern division; the northern had succumbed to climate; the main
+army, led by Severus himself, was (comparatively speaking) intact, but
+even this had been decimated by sickness, and was not in a condition to
+carry on the war with vigor. The result of the campaign had thus
+been altogether favorable to the Persians, but yet it had convinced
+Artaxerxes that Rome was more powerful than he had thought. It had shown
+him that in imagining the time had arrived when they might be easily
+driven out of Asia--he had made a mistake. The imperial power had proved
+itself strong enough to penetrate deeply within his territory, to ravage
+some of his best provinces, and to threaten his capital. The grand
+ideas with which he had entered upon the contest had consequently to be
+abandoned; and it had to be recognized that the struggle with Rome was
+one in which the two parties were very evenly matched, one in which
+it was not to be supposed that either side would very soon obtain any
+decided preponderance. Under these circumstances the grand ideas were
+quietly dropped; the army which had been gathered together to enforce
+them was allowed to disperse, and was not required within any given time
+to reassemble; it is not unlikely that (as Niebuhr conjectures) a peace
+was made, though whether Rome ceded any of her territory by its terms is
+exceedingly doubtful. Probably the general principle of the arrangement
+was a return to the _status quo ante bellum_, or, in other words, the
+acceptance by either side, as the true territorial limits between Rome
+and Persia, of those boundaries which had been previously held to divide
+the imperial possessions from the dominions of the Arsacidse.
+
+The issue of the struggle was no doubt disappointing to Artaxerxes; but
+if, on the one hand, it dispelled some illusions and proved to him
+that the Roman State, though verging to its decline, nevertheless still
+possessed a vigor and a life which he had been far from anticipating,
+on the other hand it left him free to concentrate his efforts on the
+reduction of Armenia, which was really of more importance to him,
+from Armenia being the great stronghold of the Arsacid power, than the
+nominal attachment to the empire of half-a-dozen Roman provinces. So
+long as Arsacidae maintained themselves in a position of independence
+and substantial power so near the Persian borders, and in a country of
+such extent and such vast natural strength as Armenia, there could not
+but be a danger of reaction, of the nations again reverting to the yoke
+whereto they had by long use become accustomed, and of the star of
+the Sasanidae paling before that of the former masters of Asia. It was
+essential to the consolidation of the new Persian Empire that Armenia
+should be subjugated, or at any rate that Arsacidae should cease to
+govern it; and the fact that the peace which appears to have been made
+between Rome and Persia, A.D. 232, set Artaxerxes at liberty to direct
+all his endeavors to the establishment of such relations between his own
+state and Armenia as he deemed required by public policy and necessary
+for the security of his own power, must be regarded as one of paramount
+importance, and as probably one of the causes mainly actuating him in
+the negotiations and inclining him to consent to peace on any fair
+and equitable terms. Consequently, the immediate result of hostilities
+ceasing between Persia and Rome was their renewal between Persia and
+Armenia. The war had indeed, in one sense, never ceased; for Chosroes
+had been an ally of the Romans during the campaign of Severus, and had
+no doubt played a part in the invasion and devastation of Media which
+have been described above. But, the Romans having withdrawn, he was left
+wholly dependent on his own resources; and the entire strength of Persia
+was now doubtless brought into the field against him. Still he defended
+himself with such success, and caused Artaxerxes so much alarm, that
+after a time that monarch began to despair of ever conquering his
+adversary by fair means, and cast about for some other mode of
+accomplishing his purpose. Summoning an assembly of all the vassal
+kings, the governors, and the commandants throughout the empire, he
+besought them to find some cure for the existing distress, at the same
+time promising a rich reward to the man who should contrive an effectual
+remedy. The second place in the kingdom should be his; he should have
+dominion over one half of the Arians; nay, he should share the Persian
+throne with Artaxerxes himself, and hold a rank and dignity only
+slightly inferior. We are told that these offers prevailed with a noble
+of the empire, named Anak, a man who had Arsacid blood in his veins, and
+belonged to that one of the three branches of the old royal stock
+which had long been settled at Bactria (Balkh), and that he was induced
+thereby to come forward and undertake the assassination of Chosroes, who
+was his near relative and would not be likely to suspect him of an ill
+intent. Artaxerxes warmly encouraged him in his design, and in a little
+time it was successfully carried out. Anak, with his wife, his children,
+his brother, and a train of attendants, pretended to take refuge in
+Armenia from the threatened vengeance of his sovereign, who caused his
+troops to pursue him, as a rebel and deserter, to the very borders of
+Armenia. Unsuspicious of any evil design, Ohosroes received the exiles
+with favor, discussed with them his plans for the subjugation of Persia,
+and, having sheltered them during the whole of the autumn and winter,
+proposed to them in the spring that they should accompany him and
+take part in the year's campaign. Anak, forced by this proposal to
+precipitate his designs, contrived a meeting between himself, his
+brother, and Chosroes, without attendants, on the pretext of discussing
+plans of attack, and, having thus got the Armenian monarch at a
+disadvantage, drew sword upon him, together with his brother, and
+easily put him to death. The crime which he had undertaken was thus
+accomplished; but he did not live to receive the reward promised him
+for it. Armenia rose in arms on learning the foul deed wrought upon its
+king; the bridges and the few practicable outlets by which the capital
+could be quitted were occupied by armed men; and the murderers, driven
+to desperation, lost their lives in an attempt to make their escape by
+swimming the river Araxes. Thus Artaxerxes obtained his object without
+having to pay the price that he had agreed upon; his dreaded rival was
+removed; Armenia lay at his mercy; and he had not to weaken his power at
+home by sharing it with an Arsacid partner.
+
+The Persian monarch allowed the Armenians no time to recover from the
+blow which he had treacherously dealt them. His armies at once entered
+their territory and carried everything before them. Chosroes seems to
+have had no son of sufficient age to succeed him, and the defence of the
+country fell upon the satraps, or governors of the several provinces.
+These chiefs implored the aid of the Roman emperor, and received a
+contingent; but neither were their own exertions nor was the valor of
+their allies of any avail. Artaxerxes easily defeated the confederate
+army, and forced the satraps to take refuge in Roman territory. Armenia
+submitted to his arms, and became an integral portion of his empire.
+It probably did not greatly trouble him that Artavasdes, one of the
+satraps, succeeded in carrying off one of the sons of Chosroes, a
+boy named Tiridates, whom he conveyed to Rome, and placed under the
+protection of the reigning emperor.
+
+Such were the chief military successes of Artaxerxes. The greatest of
+our historians, Gibbon, ventures indeed to assign to him, in addition,
+"some easy victories over the wild Scythians and the effeminate
+Indians." But there is no good authority for this statement; and on the
+whole it is unlikely that he came into contact with either nation. His
+coins are not found in Afghanistan; and it may be doubted whether he
+ever made any eastern expedition. His reign was not long; and it
+was sufficiently occupied by the Roman and Armenian wars, and by the
+greatest of all his works, the reformation of religion.
+
+The religious aspect of the insurrection which transferred the headship
+of Western Asia from the Parthians to the Persians, from Artabanus to
+Artaxerxes, has been already noticed; but we have now to trace, so far
+as we can, the steps by which the religious revolution was accomplished,
+and the faith of Zoroaster, or what was believed to be such, established
+as the religion of the State throughout the new empire. Artaxerxes,
+himself (if we may believe Agathias) a Magus, was resolved from the
+first that, if his efforts to shake off the Parthian yoke succeeded,
+he would use his best endeavors to overthrow the Parthian idolatry
+and install in its stead the ancestral religion of the Persians.
+This religion consisted of a combination of Dualism with a qualified
+creature-worship, and a special reverence for the elements, earth,
+air, water, and fire. Zoroastrianism, in the earliest form which is
+historically known to us, postulated two independent and contending
+principles--a principle of good, Ahura-Mazda, and a principle of evil,
+Angro-Mainyus. These beings, who were coeternal and coequal, were
+engaged in a perpetual struggle for supremacy; and the world was the
+battle-field wherein the strife was carried on. Each had called into
+existence numerous inferior beings, through whose agency they waged
+their interminable conflict. Ahura-Mazda (Oromazdos, Ormazd) had created
+thousands of angelic beings to perform his will and fight on his side
+against the Evil One; and Alngro-Mainyus (Arimanius, Ahriman) had
+equally on his part called into being thousands of malignant spirits to
+be his emissaries in the world, to do his work, and fight his battles.
+The greater of the powers called into being by Ahura-Mazda were proper
+objects of the worship of man, though, of course, his main worship was
+to be given to Ahura-Mazda. Angro-Mainyus was not to be worshipped, but
+to be hated and feared. With this dualistic belief had been combined,
+at a time not much later than that of Darius Hystaspis, an entirely
+separate system, the worship of the elements. Fire, air, earth, and
+water were regarded as essentially holy, and to pollute any of them
+was a crime. Fire was especially to be held in honor; and it became an
+essential part of the Persian religion to maintain perpetually upon the
+fire-altars the sacred flame, supposed to have been originally kindled
+from heaven, and to see that it never went out. Together with this
+elemental worship was introduced into the religion a profound regard for
+an order of priests called Magians, who interposed themselves between
+the deity and the worshipper, and claimed to possess prophetic powers.
+This Magian order was a priest-caste, and exercised vast influence,
+being internally organized into a hierarchy containing many ranks, and
+claiming a sanctity far above that of the best laymen.
+
+Artaxerxes found the Magian order depressed by the systematic action
+of the later Parthian princes, who had practically fallen away from the
+Zoroastrian faith and become mere idolaters. He found the fire-altars in
+ruins, the sacred flame extinguished, the most essential of the Magian
+ceremonies and practices disregarded. Everywhere, except perhaps in his
+own province of Persia Proper, he found idolatry established. Temples of
+the sun abounded, where images of Mithra were the object of worship, and
+the Mithraic cult was carried out with a variety of imposing ceremonies.
+Similar temples to the moon existed in many places; and the images of
+the Arsacidae were associated with those of the sun and moon gods,
+in the sanctuaries dedicated to them. The precepts of Zoroaster were
+forgotten. The sacred compositions which bore that sage's name, and had
+been handed down from a remote antiquity, were still indeed preserved,
+if not in a written form, yet in the memory of the faithful few who
+clung to the old creed; but they had ceased to be regarded as binding
+upon their consciences by the great mass of the Western Asiatics.
+Western Asia was a seething-pot, in which were mixed up a score of
+contradictory creeds, old and new, rational and irrational, Sabaism,
+Magism, Zoroastrianism, Grecian polytheism, teraphim-worship, Judaism,
+Chaldae mysticism, Christianity. Artaxerxes conceived it to be his
+mission to evoke order out of this confusion, to establish in lieu of
+this extreme diversity an absolute uniformity of religion.
+
+The steps which he took to effect his purpose seem to have been the
+following. He put down idolatry by a general destruction of the images,
+which he overthrew and broke to pieces. He raised the Magian hierarchy
+to a position of honor and dignity such as they had scarcely enjoyed
+even under the later Achaemenian princes, securing them in a condition
+of pecuniary independence by assignments of lands, and also by
+allowing their title to claim from the faithful the tithe of all their
+possessions. He caused the sacred fire to be rekindled on the altars
+where it was extinguished, and assigned to certain bodies of priests the
+charge of maintaining the fire in each locality. He then proceeded to
+collect the supposed precepts of Zoroaster into a volume, in order
+to establish a standard of orthodoxy whereto he might require all to
+conform. He found the Zoroastrians themselves divided into a number
+of sects. Among these he established uniformity by means of a "general
+council," which was attended by Magi from all parts of the empire, and
+which settled what was to be regarded as the true Zoroastrian faith.
+According to the Oriental writers, this was effected in the following
+way: Forty thousand, or, according to others, eighty thousand Magi
+having assembled, they were successively reduced by their own act to
+four thousand, to four hundred, to forty, and finally to seven, the most
+highly respected for their piety and learning. Of these seven there was
+one, a young but holy priest, whom the universal consent of his brethren
+recognized as pre-eminent. His name was Arda-Viraf. "Having passed
+through the strictest ablutions, and drunk a powerful opiate, he was
+covered with a white linen and laid to sleep. Watched by seven of the
+nobles, including the king, he slept for seven days and nights; and, on
+his reawaking, the whole nation listened with believing wonder to his
+exposition of the faith of Ormazd, which was carefully written down by
+an attendant scribe for the benefit of posterity."
+
+The result, however brought about, which must always remain doubtful,
+was the authoritative issue of a volume which the learned of Europe have
+now possessed for some quarter of a century, and which has recently been
+made accessible to the general reader by the labors of Spiegel. This
+work, the Zendavesta, while it may contain fragments of a very ancient
+literature, took its present shape in the time of Artaxerxes, and was
+probably then first collected from the mouths of the Zoroastrian priests
+and published by Arda-Viraf. Certain additions may since have been made
+to it; but we are assured that "their number is small," and that we
+"have no reason to doubt" that the text of the Avesta, in the days
+of Arda-Viraf, was on the whole exactly the same as at present. The
+religious system of the new Persian monarchy is thus completely known
+to us, and will be described minutely in a later chapter. At present we
+have to consider, not what the exact tenets of the Zoroastrians were,
+but only the mode in which Artaxerxes imposed them upon his subjects.
+
+The next step, after settling the true text of the sacred volume, was to
+agree upon its interpretation. The language of the Avesta, though pure
+Persian, was of so archaic a type that none but the most learned of the
+Magi understood it; to the common people, even to the ordinary priest,
+it was a dead letter. Artaxerxes seems to have recognized the necessity
+of accompanying the Zend text with a translation and a commentary in the
+language of his own time, the Pehlevi or Huzvaresh. Such a translation
+and commentary exist; and though in part belonging to later Sassanian
+times, they reach back probably in their earlier portions to the era
+of Artaxerxes, who may fairly be credited with the desire to make the
+sacred book "understanded of the people."
+
+Further, it was necessary, in order to secure permanent uniformity of
+belief, to give to the Magian priesthood, the keepers and interpreters
+of the sacred book, very extensive powers. The Magian hierarchy
+was therefore associated with the monarch in the government and
+administration of the State. It was declared that the altar and the
+throne were inseparable, and must always sustain each other. The Magi
+were made to form the great council of the nation. While they lent their
+support to the crown, the crown upheld them against all impugners,
+and enforced by pains and penalties their decisions. Persecution was
+adopted and asserted as a principle of action without any disguise. By
+an edict of Artaxerxes, all places of worship were closed except the
+temples of the fire-worshippers. If no violent outbreak of fanaticism
+followed, it was because the various sectaries and schismatics succumbed
+to the decree without resistance. Christian, and Jew, and Greek, and
+Parthian, and Arab allowed their sanctuaries to be closed without
+striking a blow to prevent it; and the non-Zoroastrians of the empire,
+the votaries of foreign religions, were shortly reckoned at the
+insignificant number of 80,000.
+
+Of the internal administration and government of his extensive empire
+by Artaxerxes, but little is known. That little seems, however, to
+show that while in general type and character it conformed to the usual
+Oriental model, in its practical working it was such as to obtain the
+approval of the bulk of his subjects. Artaxerxes governed his provinces
+either through native kings, or else through Persian satraps. At the
+same time, like the Achaemenian monarchs, he kept the armed force
+under his own control by the appointment of "generals" or "commandants"
+distinct from the satraps. Discarding the Parthian plan of intrusting
+the military defence of the empire and the preservation of domestic
+order to a mere militia, he maintained on a war footing a considerable
+force, regularly paid and drilled. "There can be no power," he remarked,
+"without an army, no army without money, no money without agriculture,
+and no agriculture without justice." To administer strict justice was
+therefore among his chief endeavors. Daily reports were made to him of
+all that passed not only in his capital, but in every province of his
+vast empire; and his knowledge extended even to the private actions of
+his subjects. It was his earnest desire that all well-deposed persons
+should feel an absolute assurance of security with respect to their
+lives, their property, and their honor. At the same time he punished
+crimes with severity, and even visited upon entire families the
+transgression of one of their members. It is said to have been one of
+his maxims, that "kings should never use the sword where the cane would
+answer;" but, if the Armenian historians are to be trusted, in practice
+he certainly did not err on the side of clemency.
+
+Artaxerxes was, of course, an absolute monarch, having the entire power
+of life or death, and entitled, if he chose, to decide all matters at
+his own mere will and pleasure. But, in practice, he, like most Oriental
+despots, was wont to summon and take the advice of counsellors. It is
+perhaps doubtful whether any regular "Council of State" existed under
+him. Such an institution had prevailed under the Parthians, where the
+monarchs were elected and might be deposed by the Megistanes; but there
+is no evidence that Artaxerxes continued it, or did more than call on
+each occasion for the advice of such persons among his subjects as he
+thought most capable. In matters affecting his relations towards
+foreign powers he consulted with the subject kings, the satraps, and the
+generals; in religious affairs he no doubt took counsel with the chief
+Magi. The general principles which guided his conduct both in religious
+and other matters may perhaps be best gathered from the words of that
+"testament," or "dying speech," which he is said to have addressed to
+his son Sapor. "Never forget," he said, "that, as a king, you are at
+once the protector of religion and of your country. Consider the altar
+and the throne as inseparable; they must always sustain each other. A
+sovereign without religion is a tyrant; and a people who have none
+may be deemed the most monstrous of all societies. Religion may exist
+without a state; but a state cannot exist without religion; and it is by
+holy laws that a political association can alone be bound. You should be
+to your people an example of piety and of virtue, but without pride or
+ostentation.... Remember, my son, that it is the prosperity or adversity
+of the ruler which forms the happiness or misery of his subjects, and
+that the fate of the nation depends on the conduct of the individual who
+fills the throne. The world is exposed to constant vicissitudes; learn,
+therefore, to meet the frowns of fortune with courage and fortitude,
+and to receive her smiles with moderation and wisdom. To sum up all--may
+your administration be such as to bring, at a future day, the blessings
+of those whom God has confided to our parental care upon both your
+memory and mine!"
+
+There is reason to believe that Artaxerxes, some short time before
+his death, invested Sapor with the emblems of sovereignty, and either
+associated him in the empire, or wholly ceded to him his own place. The
+Arabian writer, Macoudi, declares that, sated with glory and with
+power, he withdrew altogether from the government, and, making over
+the administration of affairs to his favorite son, devoted himself to
+religious contemplation. Tabari knows nothing of the religious motive,
+but relates that towards the close of his life Artaxerxes "made Sapor
+regent, appointed him formally to be his successor, and with his own
+hands placed the .crown on his head." [PLATE XII.] These notices would,
+by themselves, have been of small importance; but force is lent to them
+by the facts that Artaxerxes is found to have placed the effigy of Sapor
+on his later coins, and that in one of his bas-reliefs he seems to be
+represented as investing Sapor with the diadem. This tablet, which is
+at Takht-i-Bostan, has been variously explained, and, as it is
+unaccompanied by any inscription, no certain account can be given of it;
+but, on the whole the opinion of those most competent to judge seems
+to be that the intention of the artist was to represent Artaxerxes
+(who wears the cap and inflated ball) as handing the diadem to
+Sapor--distinguished by the mural crown of his own tablets and
+coins--while Ormazd, marked by his customary _baton_, and further
+indicated by a halo of glory around his head, looks on, sanctioning and
+approving the transaction. A prostrate figure under the feet of the
+two Sassanian kings represents either Artabanus or the extinct Parthian
+monarchy, probably the former; while the sunflower upon which Ormazd
+stands, together with the rays that stream from his head, denote an
+intention to present him under a Mithraitic aspect, suggestive to the
+beholder of a real latent identity between the two great objects of
+Persian worship.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 12.]
+
+
+The coins of Artaxerxes present five different types. [PLATE XI., Fig.
+1.] In the earliest his effigy appears on the obverse, front-faced, with
+the simple legend AETaHsnaTE (Artaxerxes), or sometimes with the longer
+one, BaGi ARTaiiSHaTR MaLKA, "Divine Artaxerxes, King;" while the
+reverse bears the profile of his father, Papak, looking to the left,
+with the legend BaGi PAPaKi MaLKA, "Divine Papak, King;" or BaBl BaGi
+PAPaKi MaLKA, "Son of Divine Papak, King." Both heads wear the ordinary
+Parthian diadem and tiara; and the head of Artaxerxes much resembles
+that of Volagases V., one of the later Parthian kings. The coins of the
+next period have a head on one side only. This is in profile, looking
+to the right, and bears a highly ornamental tiara, exactly like that
+of Mithridates I. of Parthia, the great conqueror. It is usually
+accompanied by the legend MaZDiSN BaGi ARTaHSHaTR MaLKA (or MaLKAN
+MaLKA) aiean, i.e. "The Ormazd-worshipping Divine Artaxerxes, King of
+Iran," or "King of the Kings of Iran." The reverse of these coins bears
+a fire-altar, with the legend ARTaHSHaTR nuvazi, a phrase of doubtful
+import. In the third period, while the reverse remains unchanged, on the
+obverse the Parthian costume is entirely given up; and the king takes,
+instead of the Parthian tiara, a low cap surmounted by the inflated
+ball, which thenceforth becomes the almost universal badge of a
+Sassanian monarch. The legend is now longer, being commonly MaZDiSN
+BaGi ARTaiisi-iaTR MaLKAN MaLKA airanMiNUCHiTRi iniN YazDAN, or "The
+Ormazd-worshipping Divine Artaxerxes, King of the Kings of Iran,
+heaven-descended of (the race of) the Gods." The fourth period is
+marked by the assumption of the mural crown, which in the sculptures of
+Artaxerxes is given only to Ormazd, but which was afterwards adopted by
+Sapor I. and many later kings, in combination with the ball, as their
+usual head-dress. The legend on these coins remains as in the third
+period, and the reverse is likewise unchanged. Finally, there are a few
+coins of Artaxerxes, belonging to the very close of his reign, where he
+is represented with the tiara of the third period, looking to the right;
+while in front of him, and looking towards him, is another profile, that
+of a boy, in whom numismatists recognize his eldest son and successor,
+Sapor. [PLATE XV., Fig. 1].
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 15.]
+
+
+It is remarkable that with the accession of Artaxerxes there is at
+once a revival of art. Art had sunk under the Parthians, despite their
+Grecian leanings, to the lowest ebb which it had known in Western Asia
+since the accession of Asshur-izir-pal to the throne of Assyria (B.C.
+886). Parthian attempts at art were few and far between, and when made
+were unhappy, not to say ridiculous. The coins of Artaxerxes, compared
+with those of the later Parthian monarchs, show at once a renaissance.
+The head is well cut; the features have individuality and expression;
+the epigraph is sufficiently legible. Still more is his sculpture
+calculated to surprise us. Artaxerxes represents himself as receiving
+the Persian diadem from the hands of Ormazd; both he and the god are
+mounted upon chargers of a stout breed, which are spiritedly portrayed;
+Artabanus lies prostrate under the feet of the king's steed, while under
+those of the deity's we observe the form of Ahriman, also prostrate,
+and indeed seemingly dead. Though the tablet has not really any great
+artistic merit, it is far better than anything that remains to us of
+the Parthians; it has energy and vigor; the physiognomies are carefully
+rendered; and the only flagrant fault is a certain over-robustness in
+the figures, which has an effect that is not altogether pleasing. Still,
+we cannot but see in the new Persian art--even at its very beginning--a
+movement towards life after a long period of stagnation; an evidence
+of that general stir of mind which the downfall of Tartar oppression
+rendered possible; a token that Aryan intelligence was beginning to
+recover and reassert itself in all the various fields in which it had
+formerly won its triumphs.
+
+The coinage of Artaxerxes, and of the other Sassanian monarchs, is
+based, in part upon Roman, in part upon Parthian, models. The Roman
+aureus furnishes the type which is reproduced in the Sassanian gold
+coins, while the silver coins follow the standard long established
+in Western Asia, first under the Seleucid, and then under the Arsacid
+princes. This standard is based upon the Attic drachm, which was adopted
+by Alexander as the basis of his monetary system. The curious occurrence
+of a completely different standard for gold and silver in Persia during
+this period is accounted for by the circumstances of the time at which
+the coinage took its rise. The Arsacidae had employed no gold coins,
+but had been content with a silver currency; any gold coin that may
+have been in use among their subjects for purposes of trade during
+the continuance of their empire must have been foreign money--Roman,
+Bactrian, or Indian; but the quantity had probably for the most part
+been very small. But, about ten years before the accession of Artaxerxes
+there had been a sudden influx into Western Asia of Roman gold, in
+consequence of the terms of the treaty concluded between Artabanus
+and Macrinus (A.D. 217), whereby Rome undertook to pay to Parthia an
+indemnity of above a million and a half of our money. It is probable
+that the payment was mostly made in aurei. Artaxerxes thus found current
+in the countries, which he overran and formed into an empire, two
+coinages--a gold and a silver--coming from different sources and
+possessing no common measure. It was simpler and easier to retain what
+existed, and what had sufficiently adjusted itself through the working
+of commercial needs, than to invent something new; and hence the
+anomalous character of the New Persian monetary system.
+
+The remarkable bas-relief of Artaxerxes described above and figured
+below in the chapter on the Art of the Sassanians, is accompanied by
+a bilingual inscription, or perhaps we should say by two bilingual
+inscriptions, which possess much antiquarian and some historic interest.
+The longer of the two runs as follows:--"Pathkar zani mazdisn bagi
+Artahshatr, malkan malka Airan, minuchitri min Ydztan, bari bagi Pap-aki
+malka;" while the Greek version of it is--
+
+
+[Illustration: INSCRIPTION, PAGE 278]
+
+
+The inscriptions are interesting, first, as proving the continued use
+of the Greek character and language by a dynasty that was intensely
+national and that wished to drive the Greeks out of Asia. Secondly, they
+are interesting as showing the character of the native language, and
+letters, employed by the Persians, when they came suddenly into notice
+as the ruling people of Western Asia. Thirdly, they have an historic
+interest in what they tell us of the relationship of Artaxerxes to Babek
+(Papak), of the rank of Babek, and of the religious sympathies of the
+Sassanians. In this last respect they do indeed, in themselves, little
+but confirm the evidence of the coins and the general voice of antiquity
+on the subject. Coupled, however, with the reliefs to which they are
+appended, they do more. They prove to us that the Persians of the
+earliest Sassanian times were not averse to exhibiting the great
+personages of their theology in sculptured forms; nay, they reveal to us
+the actual forms then considered appropriate to Ahura-Mazda (Ormazd) and
+Angro-Mainyus (Ahriman); for we can scarcely be mistaken in regarding
+the prostrate figure under the hoofs of Ahura-Mazda's steed as the
+antagonist Spirit of Evil. Finally, the inscriptions show that, from
+the commencement of their sovereignty, the Sassanian princes claimed
+for themselves a qualified divinity, assuming the title of BAG and
+ALHA, "god," and taking, in the Greek version of their legends, the
+correspondent epithet of _OEOE_
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+_Death of Artaxerxes I. and Accession of Sapor I. War of Sapor with
+Manizen. His first War with Rome. Invasion of Mesopotamia, A.D. 241.
+Occupation of Antioch. Expedition of Gordian to the East. Recovery by
+Rome of her lost Territory. Peace made between Rome and Persia. Obscure
+Interval. Second War with Rome. Mesopotamia again invaded, A.D. 258.
+Valerian takes the Command in the East. Struggle between him and Sapor.
+Defeat and Capture of Valerian, A.D. 260. Sapor invests Miriades with
+the Purple. He takes Syria and Southern Cappadocia, but is shortly
+afterwards attacked by Odenathus. Successes of Odenathus. Treatment of
+Valerian. Further successes of Odenathus. Period of Tranquillity. Great
+Works of Sapor. His Scriptures. His Dyke. His Inscriptions. His Coins.
+His Religion. Religious Condition of the East in his Time. Rise into
+Notice of Mani. His Rejection by Sapor. Sapor's Death. His Character._
+
+
+[Illustration: CHAPTER-4]
+
+
+Artaxerxes appears to have died in A.D. 240. He was succeeded by his
+son, Shahpuhri, or Sapor, the first Sassanian prince of that name.
+According to the Persian historians, the mother of Sapor was a daughter
+of the last Parthian king, Artabanus, whom Artaxerxes had taken to wife
+after his conquest of her father. But the facts known of Sapor throw
+doubt on this story, which has too many parallels in Oriental romance
+to claim implicit credence. Nothing authentic has come down to us
+respecting Sapor during his father's lifetime; but from the moment that
+he mounted the throne, we find him engaged in a series of wars, which
+show him to have been of a most active and energetic character. Armenia,
+which Artaxerxes had subjected, attempted (it would seem) to regain
+its independence at the commencement of the new reign; but Sapor easily
+crushed the nascent insurrection, and the Armenians made no further
+effort to free themselves till several years after his death.
+Contemporaneously with this revolt in the mountain region of the north,
+a danger showed itself in the plain country of the south, where Manizen,
+king of Hatra, or El Hadhr, not only declared himself independent, but
+assumed dominion over the entire tract between the Euphrates and the
+Tigris, the Jezireh of the Arabian geographers. The strength of Hatra
+was great, as had been proved by Trajan and Severus; its thick walls
+and valiant inhabitants would probably have defied every attempt of
+the Persian prince to make himself master of it by force. He therefore
+condescended to stratagem. Manizen had a daughter who cherished
+ambitious views. On obtaining a promise from Sapor that if she gave
+Hatra into his power he would make her his queen, this unnatural child
+turned against her father, betrayed him into Sapor's hands, and thus
+brought the war to an end. Sapor recovered his lost territory; but he
+did not fulfil his bargain. Instead of marrying the traitress, he handed
+her over to an executioner, to receive the death that she had deserved,
+though scarcely at his hands. Encouraged by his success in these two
+lesser contests, Sapor resolved (apparently in A.D. 241) to resume the
+bold projects of his father, and engage in a great war with Rome. The
+confusion and troubles which afflicted the Roman Empire at this time
+were such as might well give him hopes of obtaining a decided advantage.
+Alexander, his father's adversary, had been murdered in A.D. 235 by
+Maximin, who from the condition of a Thracian peasant had risen into the
+higher ranks of the army. The upstart had ruled like the savage that he
+was; and, after three years of misery, the whole Roman world had risen
+against him. Two emperors had been proclaimed in Africa; on their fall,
+two others had been elected by the Senate; a third, a mere boy, had been
+added at the demand of the Roman populace. All the pretenders except
+the last had met with violent deaths; and, after the shocks of a year
+unparalleled since A.D. 69, the administration of the greatest kingdom
+in the world was in the hands of a youth of fifteen. Sapor, no doubt,
+thought he saw in this condition of things an opportunity that he ought
+not to miss, and rapidly matured his plans lest the favorable moment
+should pass away.
+
+Crossing the middle Tigris into Mesopotamia, the bands of Sapor first
+attacked the important city of Nisibis. Nisibis, at this time a Roman
+colony, was strongly situated on the outskirts of the mountain
+range which traverses Northern Mesopotamia between the 37th and 38th
+parallels. The place was well fortified and well defended; it offered a
+prolonged resistance; but at last the Avails were breached, and it was
+forced to yield itself. The advance was then made along the southern
+flank of the mountains, by Carrhae (Harran) and Edessa to the Euphrates,
+which was probably reached in the neighborhood of Birehjik, The hordes
+then poured into Syria, and, spreading themselves over that fertile
+region, surprised and took the metropolis of the Roman East, the rich
+and luxurious city of Antioch. But meantime the Romans had shown a
+spirit which had not been expected from them. Gordian, young as he
+was, had quitted Rome and marched through Mossia and Thrace into Asia,
+accompanied by a formidable army, and by at least one good general.
+Timesitheus, whose daughter Gordian had recently married, though his
+life had hitherto been that of a civilian, exhibited, on his elevation
+to the dignity of Praetorian prefect, considerable military ability.
+The army, nominally commanded by Gordian, really acted under his orders.
+With it Timesitheus attacked and beat the bands of Sapor in a number of
+engagements, recovered Antioch, crossed the Euphrates, retook
+Carrhae, defeated the Persian monarch in a pitched battle near Resaina
+(Ras-el-Ain), recovered Nisibis, and once more planted the Roman
+standards on the banks of the Tigris. Sapor hastily evacuated most of
+his conquests, and retired first across the Euphrates and then across
+the more eastern river; while the Romans advanced as he retreated,
+placed garrisons in the various Mesopotamian towns, and even threatened
+the great city of Ctesiphon. Gordian was confident that his general
+would gain further triumphs, and wrote to the Senate to that effect;
+but either disease or the arts of a rival cut short the career of
+the victor, and from the time of his death the Romans ceased to be
+successful. The legions had, it would seem, invaded Southern Mesopotamia
+when the Praetorian prefect who had succeeded Timesitheus brought
+them intentionally into difficulties by his mismanagement of the
+commissariat; and at last retreat was determined on. The young emperor
+was approaching the Khabour, and had almost reached his own frontier,
+when the discontent of the army, fomented by the prefect, Philip, came
+to a head. Gordian was murdered at a place called Zaitha, about twenty
+miles south of Circesium, and was buried where he fell, the soldiers
+raising a tumulus in his honor. His successor, Philip, was glad to make
+peace on any tolerable terms with the Persians; he felt himself insecure
+upon his throne, and was anxious to obtain the Senate's sanction of his
+usurpation. He therefore quitted the East in A.D. 244, having concluded
+a treaty with Sapor, by which Armenia seems to have been left to the
+Persians, while Mesopotamia returned to its old condition of a Roman
+province.
+
+The peace made between Philip and Sapor was followed by an interval of
+fourteen years, during which scarcely anything is known of the condition
+of Persia. We may suspect that troubles in the north-east of his empire
+occupied Sapor during this period, for at the end of it we find Bactria,
+which was certainly subject to Persia during the earlier years of
+the monarchy, occupying an independent position, and even assuming an
+attitude of hostility towards the Persian monarch. Bactria had, from a
+remote antiquity, claims to pre-eminence among the Aryan nations. She
+was more than once inclined to revolt from the Achaemenidae; and during
+the later Parthian period she had enjoyed a sort of semi-independence.
+It would seem that she now succeeded in detaching herself altogether
+from her southern neighbor, and becoming a distinct and separate power.
+To strengthen her position she entered into relations with Rome, which
+gladly welcomed any adhesions to her cause in this remote region.
+
+Sapor's second war with Rome was, like his first, provoked by himself.
+After concluding his peace with Philip, he had seen the Roman world
+governed successively by six weak emperors, of whom four had died
+violent deaths, while at the same time there had been a continued series
+of attacks upon the northern frontiers of the empire by Alemanni,
+Goths, and Franks, who had ravaged at their will a number of the finest
+provinces, and threatened the absolute destruction of the great monarchy
+of the West. It was natural that the chief kingdom of Western Asia
+should note these events, and should seek to promote its own interests
+by taking advantage of the circumstances of the time. Sapor, in A.D.
+258, determined on a fresh invasion of the Roman provinces, and, once
+more entering Mesopotamia, carried all before him, became master of
+Nisibis, Carrhae, and Edessa, and, crossing the Euphrates, surprised
+Antioch, which was wrapped in the enjoyment of theatrical and other
+representations, and only knew its fate on the exclamation of a couple
+of actors "that the Persians were in possession of the town." The
+aged emperor, Valerian, hastened to the protection of his more eastern
+territories, and at first gained some successes, retaking Antioch, and
+making that city his headquarters during his stay in the East. But,
+after this, the tide turned. Valerian entrusted the whole conduct of the
+war to Macrianus, his Praetorian prefect, whose talents he admired, and
+of whose fidelity he did not entertain a suspicion. Macrianus,
+however, aspired to the empire, and intentionally brought Valerian into
+difficulties, in the hope of disgracing or removing him. His tactics
+were successful. The Roman army in Mesopotamia was betrayed into a
+situation whence escape was impossible, and where its capitulation was
+only a question of time. A bold attempt' made to force a way through the
+enemy's lines failed utterly, after which famine and pestilence began
+to do their work. In vain did the aged emperor send envoys to propose a
+peace, and offer to purchase escape by the payment of an immense sum in
+gold. Sapor, confident of victory, refused the overture, and, waiting
+patiently till his adversary was at the last gasp, invited him to
+a conference, and then treacherously seized his person. The army
+surrendered or dispersed. Macrianus, the Praetorian prefect, shortly
+assumed the title of emperor, and marched against Gallienus, the son and
+colleague of Valerian, who had been left to direct affairs in the West.
+But another rival started up in the East. Sapor conceived the idea of
+complicating the Roman affairs by himself putting forward a pretender;
+and an obscure citizen of Antioch, a certain Miriades or Cyriades, a
+refugee in his camp, was invested with the purple, and assumed the title
+of Caesar. [PLATE. XIII.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 13.]
+
+The blow struck at Edessa laid the whole of Roman Asia open to attack,
+and the Persian monarch was not slow to seize the occasion. His troops
+crossed the Euphrates in force, and, marching on Antioch, once more
+captured that unfortunate town, from which the more prudent citizens had
+withdrawn, but where the bulk of the people, not displeased at the turn
+of affairs, remained and welcomed the conqueror. Miriades was installed
+in power, while Sapor himself, at the head of his irresistible
+squadrons, pressed forward, bursting "like a mountain torrent" into
+Cilicia and thence into Cappadocia. Tarsus, the birthplace of St. Paul,
+at once a famous seat of learning and a great emporium of commerce,
+fell; Cilicia Campestris was overrun; and the passes of Taurus, deserted
+or weakly defended by the Romans, came into Sapor's hands. Penetrating
+through them and entering the champaign country beyond, his bands soon
+formed the siege of Caesarea Mazaca, the greatest city of these parts,
+estimated, at this time to have contained a population of four hundred
+thousand souls. Demosthenes, the governor of Caesarea, defended
+it bravely, and, had force only been used against him, might have
+prevailed; but Sapor found friends within the walls, and by their help
+made himself master of the place, while its bold defender was obliged to
+content himself with escaping by cutting his way through the victorious
+host. All Asia Minor now seemed open to the conqueror; and it is
+difficult to understand why he did not at any rate attempt a permanent
+occupation of the territory which he had so easily overrun. But it
+seems certain that he entertained no such idea. Devastation and plunder,
+revenge and gain, not permanent conquest, were his objects; and hence
+his course was everywhere marked by ruin and carnage, by smoking towns,
+ravaged fields, and heaps of slain. His cruelties have no doubt been
+exaggerated; but when we hear that he filled the ravines and valleys of
+Cappadocia with dead bodies, and so led his cavalry across them; that
+he depopulated Antioch, killing or carrying off into slavery almost the
+whole population; that he suffered his prisoners in many cases to perish
+of hunger, and that he drove them to water once a day like beasts, we
+may be sure that the guise in which he showed himself to the Romans was
+that of a merciless scourge--an avenger bent on spreading the terror
+of his name--not of one who really sought to enlarge the limits of his
+empire.
+
+During the whole course of this plundering expedition, until the retreat
+began, we hear but of one check that the bands of Sapor received. It had
+been determined to attack Emesa (now Hems), one of the most important of
+the Syrian towns, where the temple of Venus was known to contain a vast
+treasure. The invaders approached, scarcely expecting to be resisted;
+but the high priest of the temple, having collected a large body of
+peasants, appeared, in his sacerdotal robes, at the head of a
+fanatic multitude armed with slings, and succeeded in beating off the
+assailants. Emesa, its temple, and its treasure, escaped the rapacity
+of the Persians; and an example of resistance was set, which was not
+perhaps without important consequences.
+
+For it seems certain that the return of Sapor across the Euphrates was
+not effected without considerable loss and difficulty. On his advance
+into Syria he had received an embassy from a certain Odenathus, a Syrian
+or Arab chief, who occupied a position of semi-independence at Palmyra,
+which, through the advantages of its situation, had lately become a
+flourishing commercial town. Odenathus sent a long train of camels laden
+with gifts, consisting in part of rare and precious merchandise, to the
+Persian monarch, begging him to accept them, and claiming his favorable
+regard on the ground that he had hitherto refrained from all acts of
+hostility against the Persians. It appears that Sapor took offence at
+the tone of the communication, which was not sufficiently humble to
+please him. Tearing the letter to fragments and trampling it beneath his
+feet, he exclaimed--"Who is this Odenathus, and of what country, that he
+ventures thus to address his lord? Let him now, if he would lighten his
+punishment, come here and fall prostrate before me with his hands tied
+behind his back. Should he refuse, let him be well assured that I will
+destroy himself, his race, and his land." At the same time he ordered
+his servants to cast the costly presents of the Palmyrene prince into
+the Euphrates.
+
+This arrogant and offensive behavior naturally turned the willing
+friend into an enemy. Odenathus, finding himself forced into a hostile
+position, took arms and watched his opportunity. So long as Sapor
+continued to advance, he kept aloof. As soon, however, as the retreat
+commenced, and the Persian army, encumbered with its spoil and captives,
+proceeded to make its way back slowly and painfully to the Euphrates,
+Odenathus, who had collected a large force, in part from the Syrian
+villages, in part from the wild tribes of Arabia, made his appearance in
+the field. His light and agile horsemen hovered about the Persian host,
+cut off their stragglers, made prize of much of their spoil, and even
+captured a portion of the seraglio of the Great King. The harassed
+troops were glad when they had placed the Euphrates between themselves
+and their pursuer, and congratulated each other on their escape. So
+much had they suffered, and so little did they feel equal to further
+conflicts, that on their march through Mesopotamia they consented to
+purchase the neutrality of the people of Edessa by making over to them
+all the coined money that they had carried off in their Syrian raid.
+After this it would seem that the retreat was unmolested, and Sapor
+succeeded in conveying the greater part of his army, together with his
+illustrious prisoner, to his own country.
+
+With regard to the treatment that Valerian received at the hands of
+his conqueror, it is difficult to form a decided opinion. The writers
+nearest to the time speak vaguely and moderately, merely telling us that
+he grew old in his captivity, and was kept in the condition of a slave.
+It is reserved for authors of the next generation to inform us that he
+was exposed to the constant gaze of the multitude, fettered, but clad in
+the imperial purple; and that Sapor, whenever he mounted on horseback,
+placed his foot upon his prisoner's neck. Some add that, when the
+unhappy captive died, about the year A.D. 265 or 266, his body was
+flayed, and the skin inflated and hung up to view in one of the most
+frequented temples of Persia, where it was seen by Roman envoys on their
+visits to the Great King's court.
+
+It is impossible to deny that Oriental barbarism may conceivably have
+gone to these lengths; and it is in favor of the truth of the details
+that Roman vanity would naturally have been opposed to their invention.
+But, on the other hand, we have to remember that in the East the person
+of a king is generally regarded as sacred, and that self-interest
+restrains the conquering monarch from dishonoring one of his own class.
+We have also to give due weight to the fact that the earlier authorities
+are silent with respect to any such atrocities and that they are
+first related half a century after the time when they are said to
+have occurred. Under these circumstances the scepticism of Gibbon with
+respect to them is perhaps more worthy of commendation than the ready
+faith of a recent French writer.
+
+It may be added that Oriental monarchs, when they are cruel, do not show
+themselves ashamed of their cruelties, but usually relate them openly in
+their inscriptions, or represent them in their bas-reliefs. The remains
+ascribed on good grounds to Sapor do not, however, contain anything
+confirmatory of the stories which we are considering. Valerian is
+represented on them in a humble attitude, but not fettered, and never in
+the posture of extreme degradation commonly associated with his name. He
+bends his knee, as no doubt he would be required to do, on being brought
+into the Great King's presence; but otherwise he does not appear to
+be subjected to any indignity. It seems thus to be on the whole most
+probable that the Roman emperor was not more severely treated than the
+generalty of captive princes, and that Sapor has been unjustly taxed
+with abusing the rights of conquest.
+
+The hostile feeling of Odenathus against Sapor did not cease with the
+retreat of the latter across the Euphrates. The Palmyrene prince was
+bent on taking advantage of the general confusion of the times to carve
+out for himself a considerable kingdom, of which Palmyra should be the
+capital. Syria and Palestine on the one hand, Mesopotamia on the other,
+were the provinces that lay most conveniently near to him, and that he
+especially coveted. But Mesopotamia had remained in the possession of
+the Persians as the prize of their victory over Valerian, and could
+only be obtained by wresting it from the hands into which it had fallen.
+Odenathus did not shrink from this contest. It had been with some
+reason conjectured that Sapor must have been at this time occupied with
+troubles which had broken out on the eastern side of his empire. At any
+rate, it appears that Odenathus, after a short contest with Macriarius
+and his son, Quietus, turned his arms once more, about A.D. 263, against
+the Persians, crossed the Euphrates into Mesopotamia, took Oarrhee and
+Nisibis, defeated Sapor and some of his sons in a battle, and drove
+the entire Persian host in confusion to the gates of Ctesiphon. He even
+ventured to form the siege of that city; but it was not long before
+effectual relief arrived; from all the provinces flocked in contingents
+for the defence of the Western capital; several engagements were fought,
+in some of which Odenathus was defeated; and at last he found himself
+involved in difficulties through his ignorance of the localities, and
+so thought it best to retire. Apparently his retreat was undisturbed; he
+succeeded in carrying off his booty and his prisoners, among whom
+were several satraps, and he retained possession of Mesopotamia, which
+continued to form a part of the Palmyrene kingdom until the capture of
+Zenobia by Aurelian (A.D. 273).
+
+The successes of Odenathus in A.D. 263 were followed by a period of
+comparative tranquillity. That ambitious prince seems to have been
+content with ruling from the Tigris to the Mediterranean, and with
+the titles of "Augustus," which he received from the Roman emperor,
+Gallienus, and "king of kings," which he assumed upon his coins. He did
+not press further upon Sapor; nor did the Roman emperor make any serious
+attempt to recover his father's person or revenge his defeat upon the
+Persians. An expedition which he sent out to the East, professedly
+with this object, in the year A.D. 267, failed utterly, its commander,
+Heraclianus, being completely defeated by Zenobia, the widow and
+successor of Odenathus. Odenathus himself was murdered by a kinsman
+three or four years after his great successes; and, though Zenobia
+ruled his kingdom almost with a man's vigor, the removal of his powerful
+adversary must have been felt as a relief by the Persian monarch. It
+is evident, too, that from the time of the accession of Zenobia, the
+relations between Rome and Palmyra had become unfriendly; the old empire
+grew jealous of the new kingdom which had sprung up upon its borders;
+and the effect of this jealousy, while it lasted, was to secure Persia
+from any attack on the part of either.
+
+It appears that Sapor, relieved from any further necessity of defending
+his empire in arms, employed the remaining years of his life in
+the construction of great works, and especially in the erection and
+ornamentation of a new capital. The ruins of Shahpur, which still exist
+near Kazerun, in the province of Fars, commemorate the name, and afford
+some indication of the grandeur, of the second Persian monarch. Besides
+remains of buildings, they comprise a number of bas-reliefs and rock
+inscriptions, some of which were beyond a doubt set up by Sapor I.
+In one of the most remarkable the Persian monarch is represented on
+horseback, wearing the crown usual upon his coins, and holding by the
+hand a tunicked figure, probably Miriades, whom he is presenting to the
+captured Romans as their sovereign. Foremost to do him homage is the
+kneeling figure of a chieftain, probably Valerian, behind whom are
+arranged in a double line seventeen persons, representing apparently the
+different corps of the Roman army. [PLATE XIV.] All these persons are on
+foot, while in contrast with them are arranged behind Sapor ten guards
+on horseback, who represent his irresistible cavalry. Another bas-relief
+at the same place gives us a general view of the triumph of Sapor on his
+return to Persia with his illustrious prisoner. Here fifty-seven guards
+are ranged behind him, while in front are thirty-three tribute-bearers,
+having with them an elephant and a chariot. In the centre is a group
+of seven figures, comprising Sapor, who is on horseback in his usual
+costume; Valerian, who is under the horse's feet; Miriades, who stands
+by Sapor's side; three principal tribute-bearers in front of the main
+figure; and a Victory which floats in the sky.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 14.]
+
+
+Another important work, assigned by tradition to Sapor I., is the great
+dyke at Shuster. This is a dam across the river Karun, formed of cut
+stones, cemented by lime, and fastened together by clamps of iron; it is
+twenty feet broad, and no less than twelve hundred feet in length. The
+whole is a solid mass excepting in the centre, where two small arches
+have been constructed for the purpose of allowing a part of the stream
+to flow in its natural bed. The greater portion of the water is directed
+eastward into a canal cut for it; and the town of Shuster is thus
+defended on both sides by a water barrier, whereby the position becomes
+one of great strength. Tradition says that Sapor used his power over
+Valerian to obtain Roman engineers for this work; and the great dam is
+still known as the Bund-i-Kaisar, or "dam of Caesar," to the inhabitants
+of the neighboring country.
+
+Besides his works at Shahpur and Shuster, Sapor set up memorials
+of himself at Haji-abad, Nakhsh-i-Rajab, and Nakhsh-i-Rustam, near
+Persepolis, at Darabgerd in South-eastern Persia, and elsewhere; most
+of which still exist and have been described by various travellers. At
+Nakhsh-i-Rustam Valerian is seen making his submission in one tablet,
+while another exhibits the glories of Sapor's court. The sculptures are
+in some instances accompanied by inscriptions. One of these is, like
+those of Artaxerxes, bilingual, Greek and Persian. The Greek inscription
+runs as follows:
+
+
+[Illustration: PAGE 289]
+
+In the main, Sapor, it will be seen, follows the phrases of his father
+Artaxerxes; but he claims a wider dominion. Artaxerxes is content to
+rule over Ariana (or Iran) only; his son calls himself lord both of the
+Arians and the non-Arians, or of Iran and Turan. We may conclude from
+this as probable that he held some Scythic tribes under his sway,
+probably in Segestan, or Seistan, the country south and east of the
+Hamoon, or lake in which the Helmend is swallowed up. Scythians had been
+settled in these parts, and in portions of Afghanistan and India,
+since the great invasion of the Yue-chi, about B.C. 200; and it is not
+unlikely that some of them may have passed under the Persian rule during
+the reign of Sapor, but we have no particulars of these conquests.
+
+Sapor's coins resemble those of Artaxerxes in general type, but may be
+distinguished from them, first, by the head-dress, which is either a cap
+terminating in the head of an eagle, or else a mural crown surmounted by
+an inflated ball; and, secondly, by the emblem on the reverse, which is
+almost always a fire-altar between two supporters [PLATE XV., Fig. 2.]
+The ordinary legend on the coins is "Mazdisn bag Shahpuhri, malkan
+malka Airan, minuchitri minyazdan," on the obverse; and on the reverse
+"Shahpuhri nuvazi."
+
+It appears from these legends, and from the inscription above given,
+that Sapor was, like his father, a zealous Zoroastrian. His faith
+was exposed to considerable trial. Never was there a time of greater
+religious ferment in the East, or a crisis which more shook men's belief
+in ancestral creeds. The absurd idolatry which had generally prevailed
+through Western Asia for two thousand years--a nature-worship which
+gave the sanction of religion to the gratification of men's lowest
+propensities--was shaken to its foundation; and everywhere men were
+striving after something higher, nobler, and truer than had satisfied
+previous generations for twenty centuries. The sudden revivification
+of Zoroastrianism, after it had been depressed and almost forgotten for
+five hundred years, was one result of this stir of men's minds. Another
+result was the rapid progress of Christianity, which in the course of
+the third century overspread large portions of the East, rooting itself
+with great firmness in Armenia, and obtaining a hold to some extent on
+Babylonia, Bactria, and perhaps even on India. Judaism, also, which had
+long had a footing in Mesopotamia, and which after the time of Hadrian
+may be regarded as having its headquarters at Babylon--Judaism itself,
+usually so immovable, at this time showed signs of life and change,
+taking something like a new form in the schools wherein was compiled the
+vast and strange work known as "the Babylonian Talmud."
+
+Amid the strife and jar of so many conflicting systems, each having a
+root in the past, and each able to appeal with more or less of force
+to noble examples of virtue and constancy among its professors in the
+present, we cannot be surprised that in some minds the idea grew up
+that, while all the systems possessed some truth, no one of them was
+perfect or indeed much superior to its fellows. Eclectic or syncretic
+views are always congenial to some intellects; and in times when
+religious thought is deeply stirred, and antagonistic creeds are brought
+into direct collision, the amiable feeling of a desire for peace comes
+in to strengthen the inclination for reconciling opponents by means of a
+fusion, and producing harmony by a happy combination of discords. It was
+in Persia, and in the reign of Sapor, that one of the most remarkable of
+these well-meaning attempts at fusion and reconciliation that the whole
+of history can show was made, and with results which ought to be a
+lasting warning to the apostles of comprehension. A certain Mani (or
+Manes, as the ecclesiastical writers call him), born in Persia about
+A.D. 240, grew to manhood under Sapor, exposed to the various religious
+influences of which we have spoken. With a mind free from prejudice and
+open to conviction, he studied the various systems of belief which he
+found established in Western Asia--the Cabalism of the Babylonian Jews,
+the Dualism of the Magi, the mysterious doctrines of the Christians, and
+even the Buddhism of India. At first he inclined to Christianity, and is
+said to have been admitted to priest's orders and to have ministered to
+a congregation; but after a time he thought that he saw his way to the
+formation of a new creed, which should combine all that was best in
+the religious systems which he was acquainted with, and omit what
+was superfluous or objectionable. He adopted the Dualism of the
+Zoroastrians, the metempsychosis of India, the angelism and demonism
+of the Talmud, and the Trinitarianism of the Gospel of Christ. Christ
+himself he identified with Mithra, and gave Him his dwelling in the sun.
+He assumed to be the Paraclete promised by Christ, who should guide men
+into all truth, and claimed that his "Ertang," a sacred book illustrated
+by pictures of his own painting, should supersede the New Testament.
+Such pretensions were not likely to be tolerated by the Christian
+community; and Manes had not put them forward very long when he was
+expelled from the church and forced to carry his teaching elsewhere.
+Under these circumstances he is said to have addressed himself to Sapor,
+who was at first inclined to show him some favor; but when he found
+out what the doctrines of the new teacher actually were, his feelings
+underwent a change, and Manes, proscribed, or at any rate threatened
+with penalties, had to retire into a foreign country.
+
+The Zoroastrian faith was thus maintained in its purity by the Persian
+monarch, who did not allow himself to be imposed upon by the specious
+eloquence of the new teacher, but ultimately rejected the strange
+amalgamation that was offered to his acceptance. It is scarcely to be
+regretted that he so determined. Though the morality of the Manichees
+was pure, and though their religion is regarded by some as a sort of
+Christianity, there were but few points in which it was an improvement
+on Zoroastrianism. Its Dualism was pronounced and decided; its
+Trinitarianism was questionable; its teaching with respect to Christ
+destroyed the doctrines of the incarnation and atonement; its "Ertang
+" was a poor substitute for Holy Scripture. Even its morality, being
+deeply penetrated with asceticism, was of a wrong type and inferior to
+that preached by Zoroaster. Had the creed of Manes been accepted by the
+Persian monarch, the progress of real Christianity in the East would,
+it is probable, have been impeded rather than forwarded--the general
+currency of the debased amalgam would have checked the introduction of
+the pure metal.
+
+It must have been shortly after his rejection of the teaching of Manes
+that Sapor died, having reigned thirty-one years, from A.D. 240 to
+A.D. 271. He was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable princes of the
+Sassanian series. In military talent, indeed, he may not have equalled
+his father; for though he defeated Valerian, he had to confess himself
+inferior to Odenathus. But in general governmental ability he is among
+the foremost of the Neo-Persian monarchs, and may compare favorably with
+almost any prince of the series. He baffled Odenathus, when he was not
+able to defeat him, by placing himself behind walls, and by bringing
+into play those advantages which naturally belonged to the position of
+a monarch attacked in his own country. He maintained, if he did not
+permanently advance, the power of Persia in the west; while in the east
+it is probable that he considerably extended the bounds of his dominion.
+In the internal administration of his empire he united works of
+usefulness with the construction of memorial which had only a
+sentimental and aesthetic value. He was a liberal patron of art, and
+is thought not to have confined his patronage to the encouragement of
+native talent. On the subject of religion he did not suffer himself
+to be permanently led away by the enthusiasm of a young and bold
+freethinker. He decided to maintain the religious system that
+had descended to him from his ancestors, and turned a deaf ear to
+persuasions that would have led him to revolutionize the religious
+opinion of the East without placing it upon a satisfactory footing. The
+Orientals add to these commendable features of character, that he was a
+man of remarkable beauty, of great personal courage, and of a noble and
+princely liberality. According to them, "he only desired wealth that he
+might use it for good and great purposes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+Short Reign of Hormisdas I. His dealings with Manes. Accession of
+Varahran I. He puts Manes to Death. Persecutes the Manichaeans and the
+Christians. His Relations with Zenobia. He is threatened by Aurelian.
+His Death. Reign of Varahran II. His Tyrannical Conduct. His Conquest
+of Seistan, and War with India. His war with the Roman Emperors Cams and
+Diocletian. His Loss of Armenia. His Death. Short Reign of Varahran III.
+
+
+[Illustration: CHAPTER-5]
+
+
+The first and second kings of the Neo-Persian Empire were men of mark
+and renown. Their successors for several generations were, comparatively
+speaking, feeble and insignificant. The first burst of vigor and
+freshness which commonly attends the advent to power of a new race in
+the East, or the recovery of its former position by an old one, had
+passed away, and was succeeded, as so often happens, by reaction and
+exhaustion, the monarchs becoming luxurious and inert, while the people
+willingly acquiesced in a policy of which the principle was "Rest and be
+thankful." It helped to keep matters in this quiescent state, that the
+kings who ruled during this period had, in almost every instance, short
+reigns, four monarchs coming to the throne and dying within the space
+of a little more than twenty-one years. The first of these four was
+Hormisdates, Hormisdas, or Hormuz, the son of Sapor, who succeeded his
+father in A.D. 271. His reign lasted no more than a year and ten days,
+and was distinguished by only a single event of any importance. Mani,
+who had fled from Sapor, ventured to return to Persia on the accession
+of his son, and was received with respect and favor. Whether Hormisdas
+was inclined to accept his religious teaching or no, we are not told;
+but at any rate he treated him kindly, allowed him to propagate his
+doctrines, and even assigned him as his residence a castle named
+Arabion. From this place Mani proceeded to spread his views among the
+Christians of Mesopotamia, and in a short time succeeded in founding
+the sect which, under the name of Manichaeans or Manichaes, gave so much
+trouble to the Church for several centuries. Hormisdas, who, according
+to some founded the city of Ram-Hormuz in Eastern Persia, died in
+A.D.272, and was succeeded by his son or brother, Vararanes or Varahran.
+He left no inscriptions, and it is doubted whether we possess any of his
+coins.
+
+Varahran I., whose reign lasted three years only, from A.D. 272 to 275,
+is declared by the native historians to have been a mild and amiable
+prince; but the little that is positively known of him does not bear out
+this testimony. It seems certain that he put Mani to death, and probable
+that he enticed him to leave the shelter of his castle by artifice, thus
+showing himself not only harsh but treacherous towards the unfortunate
+heresiarch. If it be true that he caused him to be flayed alive, we can
+scarcely exonerate him from the charge of actual cruelty, unless indeed
+we regard the punishment as an ordinary mode of execution in Persia.
+Perhaps, however, in this case, as in other similar ones, there is no
+sufficient evidence that the process of flaying took place until the
+culprit was dead, the real object of the excoriation being, not the
+infliction of pain, but the preservation of a memorial which could be
+used as a warning and a terror to others. The skin of Mani, stuffed with
+straw, was no doubt suspended for some time after his execution over one
+of the gates of the great city of Shahpur; and it is possible that this
+fact may have been the sole ground of the belief (which, it is to
+be remembered, was not universal) that he actually suffered death by
+flaying.
+
+The death of the leader was followed by the persecution of his
+disciples. Mani had organized a hierarchy, consisting of twelve
+apostles, seventy-two bishops, and a numerous priesthood; and his sect
+was widely established at the time of his execution. Varahran handed
+over these unfortunates, or at any rate such of them as he was able
+to seize, to the tender mercies of the Magians, who put to death great
+numbers of Manichseans. Many Christians at the same time perished,
+either because they were confounded with the followers of Mani,
+or because the spirit of persecution, once let loose, could not be
+restrained, but passed on from victims of one class to those of another,
+the Magian priesthood seizing the opportunity of devoting all heretics
+to a common destruction.
+
+Thus unhappy in his domestic administration, Varahran was not much more
+fortunate in his wars. Zenobia, the queen of the East, held for some
+time to the policy of her illustrious husband, maintaining a position
+inimical alike to Rome and Persia from the death of Odenathus in A.D.
+267 to Aurelian's expedition against her in A.D. 272. When, however, in
+this year, Aurelian marched to attack her with the full forces of the
+empire, she recognized the necessity of calling to her aid other troops
+besides her own. It was at this time that she made overtures to the
+Persians, which were favorably received; and, in the year A.D. 273,
+Persian troops are mentioned among those with whom Aurelian contended in
+the vicinity of Palmyra. But the succors sent were inconsiderable, and
+were easily overpowered by the arts or arms of the emperor. The young
+king had not the courage to throw himself boldly into the war. He
+allowed Zenobia to be defeated and reduced to extremities without making
+anything like an earnest or determined effort to save her. He continued
+her ally, indeed, to the end, and probably offered her an asylum at his
+court, if she were compelled to quit her capital; but even this poor
+boon he was prevented from conferring by the capture of the unfortunate
+princess just as she reached the banks of the Euphrates.
+
+In the aid which he lent Zenobia, Varahran, while he had done too little
+to affect in any degree the issue of the struggle, had done quite enough
+to provoke Rome and draw down upon him the vengeance of the Empire, It
+seems that he quite realized the position in which circumstances had
+placed him. Feeling that he had thrown out a challenge to Rome, and
+yet shrinking from the impending conflict, he sent an embassy to the
+conqueror, deprecating his anger and seeking to propitiate him by rare
+and costly gifts. Among these were a purple robe from Cashmere, or some
+other remote province of India, of so brilliant a hue that the ordinary
+purple of the imperial robes could not compare with it, and a chariot
+like to those in which the Persian monarch was himself wont to be
+carried. Aurelian accepted these gifts; and it would seem to follow that
+he condoned Varahran's conduct, and granted him terms of peace. Hence,
+in the triumph which Aurelian celebrated at Rome in the year A.D. 274,
+no Persian captives appeared in the procession, but Persian envoys
+were exhibited instead, who bore with them the presents wherewith their
+master had appeased the anger of the emperor.
+
+A full year, however, had not elapsed from the time of the triumph when
+the master of the Roman world thought fit to change his policy, and,
+suddenly declaring war against the Persians, commenced his march
+towards the East. We are not told that he discovered, or even sought to
+discover, any fresh ground of complaint. His talents were best suited
+for employment in the field, and he regarded it as expedient to
+"exercise the restless temper of the legions in some foreign war." Thus
+it was desirable to find or make an enemy; and the Persians presented
+themselves as the foe which could be attacked most conveniently.
+There was no doubt a general desire to efface the memory of Valerian's
+disaster by some considerable success; and war with Persia was therefore
+likely to be popular at once with the Senate, with the army, and with
+the mixed multitude which was dignified with the title of "the Roman
+people."
+
+Aurelian, therefore, set out for Persia at the head of a numerous, but
+still a manageable, force. He proceeded through Illyricum and Macedonia
+towards Byzantium, and had almost reached the straits, when a
+conspiracy, fomented by one of his secretaries, cut short his career,
+and saved the Persian empire from invasion. Aurelian was murdered in the
+spring of A.D. 275, at Coenophrurium, a small station between Heraclea
+(Perinthus) and Byzantium. The adversary with whom he had hoped to
+contend, Varahran, cannot have survived him long, since he died (of
+disease as it would seem) in the course of the year, leaving his crown
+to a young son who bore the same name with himself, and is known in
+history as Varahran the Second.
+
+Varahran II. is said to have ruled at first tyrannically, and to have
+greatly disgusted all his principal nobles, who went so far as to form
+a conspiracy against him, and intended to put him to death. The chief
+of the Magians, however, interposed, and, having effectually alarmed the
+king, brought him to acknowledge himself wrong and to promise an entire
+change of conduct. The nobles upon this returned to their allegiance;
+and Varahran, during the remainder of his reign, is said to have been
+distinguished for wisdom and moderation, and to have rendered himself
+popular with every class of his subjects.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 16.]
+
+
+It appears that this prince was not without military ambition. He
+engaged in a war with the Segestani (or Sacastani), the inhabitants
+of Segestan or Seistan, a people of Scythic origin, and after a time
+reduced them to subjection [PLATE XVII]. He then became involved in a
+quarrel with some of the natives of Afghanistan, who were at this time
+regarded as "Indians." A long and desultory contest followed without
+definite result, which was not concluded by the year A.D. 283, when he
+found himself suddenly engaged in hostilities on the opposite side of
+the empire.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 17]
+
+
+Rome, in the latter part of the third century, had experienced one of
+those reactions which mark her later history, and which alone enabled
+her to complete her predestined term of twelve centuries. Between the
+years A.D. 274 and 282, under Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, and Carus, she
+showed herself once more very decidedly the first military power in
+the world, drove back the barbarians on all sides, and even ventured to
+indulge in an aggressive policy. Aurelian, as we have seen, was on the
+point of invading Persia when a domestic conspiracy brought his reign
+and life to an end. Tacitus, his successor, scarcely obtained such a
+firm hold upon the throne as to feel that he could with any prudence
+provoke a war. But Probus, the next emperor, revived the project of a
+Persian expedition, and would probably have led the Roman armies into
+Mesopotamia, had not his career been cut short by the revolt of the
+legions in Illyria (A.D. 282). Carus, who had been his praetorian
+prefect, and who became emperor at his death, adhered steadily to his
+policy. It was the first act of his reign to march the forces of the
+empire to the extreme east, and to commence in earnest the war which had
+so long been threatened. Led by the Emperor in person, the legions once
+more crossed the Euphrates.
+
+Mesopotamia was rapidly overrun, since the Persians (we are told) were
+at variance among themselves, and a civil war was raging. The bulk of
+their forces, moreover, were engaged on the opposite side of the empire
+in a struggle with the Indians, probably those of Afghanistan. Under
+these circumstances, no effectual resistance was possible; and, if
+we may believe the Roman writers, not only was the Roman province of
+Mesopotamia recovered, but the entire tract between the rivers as far
+south as the latitude of Bagdad was ravaged, and even the two great
+cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon were taken without the slightest
+difficulty. Persia Proper seemed to lie open to the invader, and Carus
+was preparing to penetrate still further to the east, when again an
+opportune death checked the progress of the Roman arms, and perhaps
+saved the Persian monarchy from destruction. Carus had announced his
+intention of continuing his march; some discontent had shown itself;
+and an oracle had been quoted which declared that a Roman emperor would
+never proceed victoriously beyond Ctesiphon, Carus was not convinced,
+but he fell sick, and his projects were delayed; he was still in his
+camp near Ctesiphon, when a terrible thunderstorm broke over the ground
+occupied by the Roman army. A weird darkness was spread around, amid
+which flash followed flash at brief intervals, and peal upon peal
+terrified the superstitious soldiery. Suddenly, after the most violent
+clap of all, the cry arose that the Emperor was dead. Some said that his
+tent had been struck by lightning, and that his death was owing to this
+cause; others believed that he had simply happened to succumb to his
+malady at the exact moment of the last thunder-clap; a third theory
+was that his attendants had taken advantage of the general confusion to
+assassinate him, and that he merely added another to the long list of
+Roman emperors murdered by those who hoped to profit by their removal.
+It is not likely that the problem of what really caused the death of
+Carus will ever be solved. That he died very late in A.D. 283, or within
+the first fortnight of A.D. 284, is certain; and it is no less certain
+that his death was most fortunate for Persia, since it brought the war
+to an end when it had reached a point at which any further reverses
+would have been disastrous, and gave the Persians a breathing-space
+during which they might, at least partially, recover from their
+prostration.
+
+Upon the death of Carus, the Romans at once determined on retreat.
+It was generally believed that the imperial tent had been struck by
+lightning; and it was concluded that the decision of the gods against
+the further advance of the invading army had been thereby unmistakably
+declared. The army considered that it had done enough, and was anxious
+to return home; the feeble successor of Carus, his son Numerian, if
+he possessed the will, was at any rate without the power to resist the
+wishes of the troops; and the result was that the legions quitted the
+East without further fighting, and without securing, by the conclusion
+of formal terms of peace, any permanent advantage from their victories.
+
+A pause of two years now occurred, during which Varahran had the
+opportunity of strengthening his position while Rome was occupied by
+civil wars and distracted between the claims of pretenders. No great use
+seems, however, to have been made of this interval. When, in A.D. 286,
+the celebrated Diocletian determined to resume the war with Persia, and,
+embracing the cause of Tiridates, son of Chosroes, directed his efforts
+to the establishment of that prince, as a Roman feudatory, on his
+father's throne. Varahran found himself once more overmatched, and could
+offer no effectual resistance. Armenia had now been a province of Persia
+for the space of twenty-six (or perhaps forty-six) years; but it had in
+no degree been conciliated or united with the rest of the empire. The
+people had been distrusted and oppressed; the nobles had been deprived
+of employment; a heavy tribute had been laid on the land; and a
+religious revolution had been violently effected. It is not surprising
+that when Tiridates, supported by a Roman _corps d'armee_, appeared
+upon the frontiers, the whole population received him with transports
+of loyalty and joy. All the nobles flocked to his standard, and at once
+acknowledged him for their king. The people everywhere welcomed him
+with acclamations. A native prince of the Arsacid dynasty united the
+suffrages of all; and the nation threw itself with enthusiastic zeal
+into a struggle which was viewed as a war of independence. It was
+forgotten that Tiridates was in fact only a puppet in the hand of the
+Roman emperor, and that, whatever the result of the contest, Armenia
+would remain at its close, as she had been at its commencement, a
+dependant upon a foreign power.
+
+The success of Tiridates at the first was such as might have been
+expected from the forces arrayed in his favor. He defeated two Persian
+armies in the open field, drove out the garrisons which held the more
+important of the fortified towns, and became undisputed master of
+Armenia. He even crossed the border which separated Armenia from Persia,
+and gained signal victories on admitted Persian ground. According to the
+native writers, his personal exploits were extraordinary; he defeated
+singly a corps of giants, and routed on foot a large detachment mounted
+on elephants! The narrative is here, no doubt, tinged with exaggeration;
+but the general result is correctly stated. Tiridates, within a year of
+his invasion, was complete master of the entire Armenian highland, and
+was in a position to carry his arms beyond his own frontiers.
+
+Such seems to have been the position of things, when Varahran II.
+suddenly died, after a reign of seventeen years,52 A.D. 292. He is
+generally said to have left behind him two sons, Varahran and Narsehi,
+or Narses, of whom the elder, Varahran, was proclaimed king. This prince
+was of an amiable temper, but apparently of a weakly constitution. He
+was with difficulty persuaded to accept the throne, and anticipated
+from the first an early demise. No events are assigned to his short
+reign, which (according to the best authorities) did not exceed the
+length of four months. It is evident that he must have been powerless to
+offer any effectual opposition to Tiridates, whose forces continued
+to ravage, year after year, the north-western provinces of the Persian
+empire. Had Tiridates been a prince of real military talent, it could
+scarcely have been difficult for him to obtain still greater advantages.
+But he was content with annual raids, which left the substantial power
+of Persia untouched. He allowed the occasion of the throne's being
+occupied by a weak and invalid prince to slip by. The consequences of
+this negligence will appear in the next chapter. Persia, permitted to
+escape serious attack in her time of weakness, was able shortly to take
+the offensive and to make the Armenian prince regret his indolence or
+want of ambition. The son of Chosroes became a second time a fugitive;
+and once more the Romans were called in to settle the affairs of the
+East. We have now to trace the circumstances of this struggle, and to
+show how Rome under able leaders succeeded in revenging the defeat
+and captivity of Valerian, and in inflicting, in her turn, a grievous
+humiliation upon her adversary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+_Civil War of Narses and his Brother Hormisdas. Narses victorious. He
+attacks and expels Tiridates. War declared against him by Diocletian.
+First Campaign of Galerius, A.D. 297. Second Campaign, A.D. 298. Defeat
+suffered by Narses. Negotiations. Conditions of Peace. Abdication and
+Death of Narses._
+
+
+It appears that on the death of Varahran III., probably without issue,
+there was a contention for the crown between two brothers, Narses and
+Hormisdas. We are not informed which of them was the elder, nor on what
+grounds they respectively rested their claims; but it seems that Narses
+was from the first preferred by the Persians, and that his rival
+relied mainly for success on the arms of foreign barbarians. Worsted in
+encounters wherein none but Persians fought on either side, Hormisdas
+summoned to his aid the hordes of the north--Gelli from the shores of
+the Caspian, Scyths from the Oxus or the regions beyond, and Russians,
+now first mentioned by a classical writer. But the perilous attempt to
+settle a domestic struggle by the swords of foreigners was not destined
+on this occasion to prosper. Hormisdas failed in his endeavor to obtain
+the throne; and, as we hear no more of him, we may regard it as probable
+that he was defeated and slain. At any rate Narses was, within a year or
+two of his accession, so firmly settled in his kingdom that he was
+able to turn his thoughts to the external affairs of the empire, and to
+engage in a great war. All danger from internal disorder must have been
+pretty certainly removed before Narses could venture to affront, as he
+did, the strongest of existing military powers. [PLATE XVIII.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 18.]
+
+
+Narses ascended the throne in A.D. 292 or 293. It was at least as early
+as A.D. 296 that he challenged Rome to an encounter by attacking in
+force the vassal monarch whom her arms had established in Armenia.
+Tiridates had, it is evident, done much to provoke the attack by his
+constant raids into Persian territory, which were sometimes carried even
+to the south of Ctesiphon. He was probably surprised by the sudden march
+and vigorous assault of an enemy whom he had learned to despise; and,
+feeling himself unable to organize an effectual resistance, he had
+recourse to flight, gave up Armenia to the Persians, and for a second
+time placed himself under the protection of the Roman emperor. The
+monarch who held this proud position was still Diocletian, the greatest
+emperor that had occupied the Roman throne since Trajan, and the prince
+to whom Tiridates was indebted for his restoration to his kingdom. It
+was impossible that Diocletian should submit to the affront put upon him
+without an earnest effort to avenge it. His own power rested, in a great
+measure, on his military prestige; and the unpunished insolence of
+a foreign king would have seriously endangered an authority not very
+firmly established. The position of Diocletian compelled him to declare
+war against Narses in the year A.D. 296, and to address himself to a
+struggle of which he is not likely to have misconceived the importance.
+It might have been expected that he would have undertaken the conduct of
+the war in person; but the internal condition of the empire was far
+from satisfactory, and the chief of the State seems to have felt that
+he could not conveniently quit his dominions to engage in war beyond his
+borders. He therefore committed the task of reinstating Tiridates and
+punishing Narses to his favorite and son-in-law, Galerius, while he
+himself took up a position within the limits of the empire, which at
+once enabled him to overawe his domestic adversaries and to support and
+countenance his lieutenant.
+
+The first attempts of Galerius were unfortunate. Summoned suddenly from
+the Danube to the Euphrates, and placed at the head of an army composed
+chiefly of the levies of Asia, ill-disciplined, and unacquainted with
+their commander, he had to meet an adversary of whom he knew little
+or nothing, in a region the character of which was adverse to his own
+troops and favorable to those of the enemy. Narses had invaded the
+Roman province of Mesopotamia, had penetrated to the Khabour, and was
+threatening to cross the Euphrates into Syria. Galerius had no choice
+but to encounter him on the ground which he had chosen. Now, though
+Western Mesopotamia is ill-described as a smooth and barren surface of
+sandy desert, without a hillock, without a tree, and without a spring
+of fresh water, it is undoubtedly an open country, possessing numerous
+plains, where, in a battle, the advantage of numbers is likely to be
+felt, and where there is abundant 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 the
+flower of the force now enrolled; and it was further strengthened by the
+addition of a body of Gothic auxiliaries. It was determined, moreover,
+that the attack should this time be made on the side of Armenia,
+where it was felt that the Romans would have the double advantage of
+a friendly country, and of one far more favorable for the movements of
+infantry than for those of an army whose strength lay in its horse. The
+number of the troops employed was still small. Galerius entered Armenia
+at the head of only 25,000 men; but they were a picked force, and they
+might be augmented, almost to any extent, by the national militia of the
+Armenians. He was now, moreover, as cautious as he had previously been
+rash; he advanced slowly, feeling his way; he even personally made
+reconnaissances, accompanied by only one or two horsemen, and, under
+the shelter of a flag of truce, explored the position of his adversary.
+Narses found himself overmatched alike in art and in force. He allowed
+himself to be surprised in his camp by his active enemy, and suffered a
+defeat by which he more than lost all the fruits of his former victory.
+Most of his army was destroyed; he himself received a wound, and with
+difficulty escaped by a hasty flight. Galerius pursued, and, though he
+did not succeed in taking the monarch himself, made prize of his
+wives, his sisters, and a number of his children, besides capturing
+his military chest. He also took many of the most illustrious Persians
+prisoners. How far he followed his flying adversary is uncertain; but
+it is scarcely probable that he proceeded much southward of the Armenian
+frontier. He had to reinstate Tiridates in his dominions, to recover
+Eastern Mesopotamia, and to lay his laurels at the feet of his colleague
+and master. It seems probable that having driven Narses from Armenia,
+and left Tiridates there to administer the government, he hastened to
+rejoin Diocletian before attempting any further conquests.
+
+The Persian monarch, on his side, having recovered from his wound, which
+could have been but slight, set himself to collect another army, but at
+the same time sent an ambassador to to the camp of Galerius, requesting
+to know the terms on which Rome would consent to make peace. A writer
+of good authority has left us an account of the interview which followed
+between the envoy of the Persian monarch and the victorious Roman.
+Apharban (so was the envoy named) opened the negotiations with the
+following speech:
+
+"The whole human race knows," he said, "that the Roman and Persian
+kingdoms resemble two great luminaries, and that, like a man's two eyes,
+they ought mutually to adorn and illustrate each other, and not in the
+extremity of their wrath to seek rather each other's destruction. So
+to act is not to act manfully, but is indicative rather of levity and
+weakness; for it is to suppose that our inferiors can never be of any
+service to us, and that therefore we had bettor get rid of them. Narses,
+moreover, ought not to be accounted a weaker prince than other Persian
+kings; thou hast indeed conquered him, but then thou surpassest all
+other monarchs; and thus Narses has of course been worsted by thee,
+though he is no whit inferior in merit to the best of his ancestors.
+The orders which my master has given me are to entrust all the rights of
+Persia to the clemency of Rome; and I therefore do not even bring with
+me any conditions of peace, since it is for the emperor to determine
+everything. I have only to pray, on my master's behalf, for the
+restoration of his wives and male children; if he receives them at your
+hands, he will be forever beholden to you, and will be better pleased
+than if he recovered them by force of arms. Even now my master cannot
+sufficiently thank you for the kind treatment which he hears you have
+vouchsafed them, in that you have offered them no insult, but have
+behaved towards them as though on the point of giving them back to
+their kith and kin. He sees herein that you bear in mind the changes of
+fortune and the instability of all human affairs."
+
+At this point Galerius, who had listened with impatience to the long
+harangue, burst in with a movement of anger that shook his whole
+frame--"What? Do the Persians dare to remind us of the vicissitudes of
+fortune, as though we could forget how they behave when victory inclines
+to them? Is it not their wont to push their advantage to the uttermost
+and press as heavily as may be on the unfortunate? How charmingly they
+showed the moderation that becomes a victor in Valerian's time! They
+vanquished him by fraud; they kept him a prisoner to advanced old age;
+they let him die in dishonor; and then when he was dead they stripped
+off his skin, and with diabolical ingenuity made of a perishable human
+body an imperishable monument of our shame. Verily, if we follow this
+envoy's advice, and look to the changes of human affairs, we shall not
+be moved to clemency, but to anger, when we consider the past conduct
+of the Persians. If pity be shown them, if their requests be granted, it
+will not be for what they have urged, but because it is a principle of
+action with us--a principle handed down to us from our ancestors--to
+spare the humble and chastise the proud." Apharban, therefore, was
+dismissed with no definite answer to his question, what terms of peace
+Rome would require; but he was told to assure his master that Rome's
+clemency equalled her valor, and that it would not be long before he
+would receive a Roman envoy authorized to signify the Imperial pleasure,
+and to conclude a treaty with him.
+
+Having held this interview with Apharban, Galerius hastened to meet and
+consult his colleague. Diocletian had remained in Syria, at the head
+of an army of observation, while Galerius penetrated into Armenia and
+engaged the forces of Persia. When he heard of his son-in-law's
+great victory he crossed the Euphrates, and advancing through Western
+Mesopotamia, from which the Persians probably retired, took up his
+residence at Nisibis, now the chief town of these parts. It is perhaps
+true that his object was "to moderate, by his presence and counsels, the
+pride of Galarius." That prince was bold to rashness, and nourished an
+excessive ambition. He is said to have at this time entertained a design
+of grasping at the conquest of the East, and to have even proposed to
+himself to reduce the Persian Empire into the form of a Roman province.
+But the views of Diocletian were humbler and more prudent. He held
+to the opinion of Augustus and Hadrian, that Rome did not need any
+enlargement of her territory, and that the absorption of the East was
+especially undesirable. When he and his son-in-law met and interchanged
+ideas at Nisibis, the views of the elder ruler naturally prevailed; and
+it was resolved to offer to the Persians tolerable terms of peace. A
+civilian of importance, Sicorius Probus, was selected for the delicate
+office of envoy, and was sent, with a train of attendants, into Media,
+where Narses had fixed his headquarters. We are told that the Persian
+monarch received him with all honor, but, under pretence of allowing
+him to rest and refresh himself after his long journey, deferred his
+audience from day to day; while he employed the time thus gained in
+collecting from various quarters such a number of detachments and
+garrisons as might constitute a respectable army. He had no intention of
+renewing the war, but he knew the weight which military preparation ever
+lends to the representations of diplomacy. Accordingly it was not until
+he had brought under the notice of Sicorius a force of no inconsiderable
+size that he at last admitted him to an interview. The Roman ambassador
+was introduced into an inner chamber of the royal palace in Media, where
+he found only the king and three others--Apharban, the envoy sent to
+Galerius, Archapetes, the captain of the guard, and Barsaborsus, the
+governor of a province on the Armenian frontier. He was asked to unfold
+the particulars of his message, and say what were the terms on which
+Rome would make peace. Sicorius complied. The emperors, he said,
+required five things:--(i.) The cession to Rome of five provinces beyond
+the river Tigris, which are given by one writer as Intilene, Sophene,
+Arzanene, Carduene, and Zabdicene; by another as Arzanene, Moxoene,
+Zabdicene, Rehimene, and Corduene; (ii.) the recognition of the Tigris,
+as the general boundary between the two empires; (iii.) the extension of
+Armenia to the fortress of Zintha, in Media; (iv.) the relinquishment by
+Persia to Rome of her protectorate over Iberia, including the right of
+giving investiture to the Iberian kings; and (v.) the recognition of
+Nisibis as the place at which alone commercial dealings could take place
+between the two nations.
+
+It would seem that the Persians were surprised at the moderation of
+these demands. Their exact value and force will require some discussion;
+but at any rate it is clear that, under the circumstances, they were
+not felt to be excessive. Narses did not dispute any of them except the
+last: and it seems to have been rather because he did not wish it to
+be said that he had yielded everything, than because the condition was
+really very onerous, that he made objection in this instance. Sicorius
+was fortunately at liberty to yield the point. He at once withdrew
+the fifth article of the treaty, and, the other four being accepted, a
+formal peace was concluded between the two nations.
+
+To understand the real character of the peace now made, and to
+appreciate properly the relations thereby established between Rome
+and Persia, it will be necessary to examine at some length the several
+conditions of the treaty, and to see exactly what was imported by each
+of them. There is scarcely one out of the whole number that carries its
+meaning plainly upon its face; and on the more important very various
+interpretations have been put, so that a discussion and settlement of
+some rather intricate points is here necessary.
+
+(i.) There is a considerable difference of opinion as to the five
+provinces ceded to Rome by the first article of the treaty, as to their
+position and extent, and consequently as to their importance. By some
+they are put on the right, by others on the left, bank of the Tigris;
+while of those who assign them this latter position some place them in
+a cluster about the sources of the river, while others extend them very
+much further to the southward. Of the five provinces three only can
+be certainly named, since the authorities differ as to the two others.
+These three are Arzanene, Cordyene, and Zabdicene, which occur in that
+order in Patricius. If we can determine the position of these three,
+that of the others will follow, at least within certain limits.
+
+Now Arzanene was certainly on the left bank of the Tigris. It adjoined
+Armenia, and is reasonably identified with the modern district of
+Kherzan, which lies between Lake Van and the Tigris, to the west of the
+Bitlis river. All the notices of Arzanene suit this locality; and the
+name "Kherzan" may be regarded as representing the ancient appellation.
+
+Zabdicene was a little south and a little east of this position. It
+was the tract about a town known as Bezabda (perhaps a corruption of
+Beit-Zabda), which had been anciently called Phoenica. This town is
+almost certainly represented by the modern Fynyk, on the left bank of
+the Tigris, a little above Jezireh. The province whereof it was the
+capital may perhaps have adjoined Arzanene, reaching as far north as the
+Bitlis river.
+
+If these two tracts are rightly placed, Cordyene must also be sought
+on the left bank of the Tigris. The word is no doubt the ancient
+representative of the modern Kurdistan, and means a country in
+which Kurds dwelt. Now Kurds seem to have been at one time the chief
+inhabitants of the Mons Masius, the modern Jebel Kara j ah Dagh and
+Jebel Tur, which was thence called Oordyene, Gordyene, or the Gordisean
+mountain chain. But there was another and a more important Cordyene
+on the opposite side of the river. The tract to this day known as
+Kurdistan, the high mountain region south and south-east of Lake Van
+between Persia and Mesopotamia, was in the possession of Kurds from
+before the time of Xenophon, and was known as the country of the
+Carduchi, as Cardyene, and as Cordyene. This tract, which was contiguous
+to Arzanene and Zabdicene, if we have rightly placed those regions,
+must almost certainly have been the Cordyene of the treaty, which, if
+it corresponded at all nearly in extent with the modern Kurdistan, must
+have been by far the largest and most important of the five provinces.
+
+The two remaining tracts, whatever their names, must undoubtedly have
+lain on the same side of the Tigris with these three. As they are
+otherwise unknown to us (for Sophene, which had long been Roman, cannot
+have been one of them), it is impossible that they should have been of
+much importance. No doubt they helped to round off the Roman dominion
+in this quarter; but the great value of the entire cession lay in the
+acquisition of the large and fruitful province of Cordyene, inhabited
+by a brave and hardy population, and afterwards the seat of fifteen
+fortresses which brought the Roman dominion to the very edge of
+Adiabene, made them masters of the passes into Media, and laid the whole
+of Southern Mesopotamia open to their incursions. It is probable that
+the hold of Persia on the territory had never been strong; and in
+relinquishing it she may have imagined that she gave up no very great
+advantage; but in the hands of Rome Kurdistan became a standing menace
+to the Persian power, and we shall find that on the first opportunity
+the false step now taken was retrieved, Cordyene with its adjoining
+districts was pertinaciously demanded of the Romans, was grudgingly
+surrendered, and was then firmly re-attached to the Sassanian dominions.
+
+(ii.) The Tigris is said by Patricius and Festus to have been made the
+boundary of the two empires. Gibbon here boldly substitutes the Western
+Khabour and maintains that "the Roman frontier traversed, but never
+followed, the course of the Tigris." He appears not to be able to
+understand how the Tigris could be the frontier, when five provinces
+across the Tigris were Roman. But the intention of the article probably
+was, first, to mark the complete cession to Rome of Eastern as well as
+Western Mesopotamia, and, secondly, to establish the Tigris as the line
+separating the empires below the point down to which the Romans held
+both banks. Cordyene may not have touch the Tigris at all, or may have
+touched it only about the 37th parallel. From this point southwards,
+as far as Mosul, or Nimrud, or possibly Kileh Sherghat, the Tigris was
+probably now recognized as the dividing line between the empires. By the
+letter of the treaty the whole Euphrates valley might indeed have been
+claimed by Rome; but practically she did not push her occupation of
+Mesopotamia below Circeshim. The real frontier from this point was the
+Mesopotamian desert, which extends from Kerkesiyeh to Nimrud, a
+distance of 150 miles. Above this it was the Tigris, as far probably
+as Feshapoor; after which it followed the line, whatever it was, which
+divided Oordyene from Assyria and Media.
+
+(iii.) The extension of Armenia to the fortress of Zintha, in Media,
+seems to have imported much more than would at first sight appear from
+the words. Gibbon interprets it as implying the cession of all Media
+Atropatene, which certainly appears a little later to be in the
+possession of the Armenian monarch, Tiridates. A large addition to the
+Armenian territory out of the Median is doubtless intended; but it is
+quite impossible to determine definitely the extent or exact character
+of the cession.
+
+(iv.) The fourth article of the treaty is sufficiently intelligible.
+So long as Armenia had been a fief of the Persian empire, it naturally
+belonged to Persia to exercise influence over the neighboring Iberia,
+which corresponded closely to the modern Georgia, intervening between
+Armenia and the Caucasus. Now, when Armenia had become a dependency
+of Rome, the protectorate hitherto exercised by the Sassanian princes
+passed naturally to the Caesars; and with the protectorate was bound up
+the right of granting investiture to the kingdom, whereby the protecting
+power was secured against the establishment on the throne of an
+unfriendly person. Iberia was not herself a state of much strength; but
+her power of opening or shutting the passes of the Caucasus gave her
+considerable importance, since by the admission of the Tatar hordes,
+which were always ready to pour in from the plains of the North, she
+could suddenly change the whole face of affairs in North-Western Asia,
+and inflict a terrible revenge on any enemy that had provoked her. It
+is true that she might also bring suffering on her friends, or even
+on herself, for the hordes, once admitted, were apt to make little
+distinction between friend and foe; but prudential considerations did
+not always prevail over the promptings of passion, and there had been
+occasions when, in spite of them, the gates had been thrown open and
+the barbarians invited to enter. It was well for Rome to have it in her
+power to check this peril. Her own strength and the tranquillity of
+her eastern provinces were confirmed and secured by the right which she
+(practically) obtained of nominating the Iberian monarchs.
+
+(v.) The fifth article of the treaty, having been rejected by Narses
+and then withdrawn by Sicorius, need not detain us long. By limiting the
+commercial intercourse of the two nations to a single city, and that a
+city within their own dominions, the Romans would have obtained enormous
+commercial advantages. While their own merchants remained quietly at
+home, the foreign merchants would have had the trouble and expense of
+bringing their commodities to market a distance of sixty miles from the
+Persian frontier and of above a hundred from any considerable town; they
+would of course have been liable to market dues, which would have fallen
+wholly into Roman hands; and they would further have been chargeable
+with any duty, protective or even prohibitive, which Rome chose to
+impose. It is not surprising that Narses here made a stand, and insisted
+on commerce being left to flow in the broader channels which it had
+formed for itself in the course of ages.
+
+Rome thus terminated her first period of struggle with the newly revived
+monarchy of Persia by a great victory and a great diplomatic success. If
+Narses regarded the terms--and by his conduct he would seem to have done
+so--as moderate under the circumstances, our conclusion must be that
+the disaster which he had suffered was extreme, and that he knew the
+strength of Persia to be, for the time, exhausted. Forced to relinquish
+his suzerainty over Armenia and Iberia, he saw those countries not
+merely wrested from himself, but placed under the protectorate, and so
+made to minister to the strength, of his rival. Nor was this all. Rome
+had gradually been advancing across Mesopotamia and working her way
+from the Euphrates to the Tigris. Narses had to acknowledge, in so many
+words, that the Tigris, and not the Euphrates, was to be regarded as
+her true boundary, and that nothing consequently was to be considered as
+Persian beyond the more eastern of the two rivers. Even this concession
+was not the last or the worst. Narses had finally to submit to see his
+empire dismembered, a portion of Media attached to Armenia, and five
+provinces, never hitherto in dispute, torn from Persia and added to the
+dominion of Rome. He had to allow Rome to establish herself in force on
+the left bank of the Tigris, and so to lay open to her assaults a great
+portion of his northern besides all his western frontier. He had to
+see her brought to the very edge of the Iranic plateau, and within a
+fortnight's march of Persia Proper. The ambition to rival his ancestor
+Sapor, if really entertained, was severely punished; and the defeated
+prince must have felt that he had been most ill-advised in making the
+venture.
+
+Narses did not long continue on the throne after the conclusion of this
+disgraceful, though, it may be, necessary, treaty. It was made in
+A.D. 297. He abdicated in A.D. 301. It may have been disgust at his
+ill-success, it may have been mere weariness of absolute power, which
+caused him to descend from his high position and retire into private
+life. He was so fortunate as to have a son of full age in whose favor he
+could resign, so that there was no difficulty about the succession. His
+ministers seem to have thought it necessary to offer some opposition to
+his project; but their resistance was feeble, perhaps because they hoped
+that a young prince would be more entirely guided by their counsels.
+Narses was allowed to complete his act of self-renunciation, and, after
+crowning his son Hormisdas with his own hand, to spend the remainder of
+his days in retirement. According to the native writers, his main object
+was to contemplate death and prepare himself for it. In his youth he had
+evinced some levity of character, and had been noted for his devotion to
+games and to the chase; in his middle age he laid aside these pursuits,
+and, applying himself actively to business, was a good administrator, as
+well as a brave soldier. But at last it seemed to him that the only life
+worth living was the contemplative, and that the happiness of the hunter
+and the statesman must yield to that of the philosopher. It is doubtful
+how long he survived his resignation of the throne, but tolerably
+certain that he did not outlive his son and successor, who reigned less
+than eight years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+_Reign of Hormisdas II. His Disposition. General Character of his Reign.
+His Taste for Building. His new Court of Justice. His Marriage with a
+Princess of Cabul. Story of his Son Hormisdas. Death of Hormisdas II.,
+and Imprisonment of his Son Hormisdas. Interregnum. Crown assigned to
+Sapor II. before his Birth. Long Reign of Sapor. First Period of his
+Reign, from A.D. 309 to A.D. 337. Persia plundered by the Arabs and the
+Turks. Victories of Sapor over the Arabs. Persecution of the Christians.
+Escape of Hormisdas. Feelings and Conduct of Sapor._
+
+
+Hormisdas II., who became king on the abdication of his father, Narses,
+had, like his father, a short reign. He ascended the throne A.D. 301;
+he died A.D. 309, not quite eight years later. To this period historians
+assign scarcely any events. The personal appearance of Hormisdas, if we
+may judge by a gem, was pleasing; [PLATE XVIII., Fig. 4.] he is
+said, however, to have been of a harsh temper by nature, but to have
+controlled his evil inclinations after he became king, and in fact to
+have then neglected nothing that could contribute to the welfare of his
+subjects. He engaged in no wars; and his reign was thus one of those
+quiet and uneventful intervals which, furnishing no materials for
+history, indicate thereby the happiness of a nation. We are told that he
+had a strong taste for building, and could never see a crumbling edifice
+without instantly setting to work to restore it. Ruined towns and
+villages, so common throughout the East in all ages, ceased to be seen
+in Persia while he filled the throne. An army of masons always followed
+him in his frequent journeys throughout his empire, and repaired
+dilapidated homesteads and cottages with as much care and diligence as
+edifices of a public character. According to some writers he founded
+several entirely new towns in Khuzistan or Susiana, while, according to
+others, he built the important city of Hormuz, or (as it is sometimes
+called) Ram-Aormuz, in the province of Kerman, which is still a
+flourishing place. Other authorities ascribe this city, however, to the
+first Hormisdas, the son of Sapor I. and grandson of Artaxerxes.
+
+Among the means devised by Hormisdas II. for bettering the condition of
+his people the most remarkable was his establishment of a new Court of
+Justice. In the East the oppression of the weak by the powerful is
+the most inveterate and universal of all evils, and the one that
+well-intentioned monarchs have to be most careful in checking and
+repressing. Hormisdas, in his anxiety to root out this evil, is said to
+have set up a court expressly for the hearing of causes where complaint
+was made by the poor of wrongs done to them by the rich. The duty of
+the judges was at once to punish the oppressors, and to see that ample
+reparation was made to those whom they had wronged. To increase the
+authority of the court, and to secure the impartiality of its sentences,
+the monarch made a point of often presiding over it himself, of hearing
+the causes, and pronouncing the judgments in person. The most powerful
+nobles were thus made to feel that, if they offended, they would be
+likely to receive adequate punishment; and the weakest and poorest of
+the people were encouraged to come forward and make complaint if they
+had suffered injury.
+
+Among his other wives, Hormisdas, we are told, married a daughter of
+the king of Cabul. It was natural that, after the conquest of Seistan
+by Varahran II., about A.D. 280, the Persian monarchs should establish
+relations with the chieftains ruling in Afghanistan. That country seems,
+from the first to the fourth century of our era, to have been under the
+government of princes of Scythian descent and of considerable wealth and
+power. Kadphises, Kanerki, Kenorano. Ooerki, Baraoro, had the main seat
+of their empire in the region about Cabul and Jellalabad; but from this
+centre they exercised an extensive sway, which at times probably reached
+Candahar on the one hand, and the Punjab region on the other. Their
+large gold coinage proves them to have been monarchs of great wealth,
+while their use of the Greek letters and language indicates a certain
+amount of civilization. The marriage of Hormisdas with a princess of
+Cabul implies that the hostile relations existing under Varahran II. had
+been superseded by friendly ones. Persian aggression had ceased to be
+feared. The reigning Indo-Scythic monarch felt no reluctance to give his
+daughter in marriage to his Western neighbor, and sent her to his court
+(we are told) with a wardrobe and ornaments of the utmost magnificence
+and costliness.
+
+Hormisdas II. appears to have had a son, of the same name with himself,
+who attained to manhood while his father was still reigning. This
+prince, who was generally regarded, and who, of course, viewed himself,
+as the heir-apparent, was no favorite with the Persian nobles, whom
+he had perhaps offended by an inclination towards the literature and
+civilization of the Greeks. It must have been upon previous consultation
+and agreement that the entire body of the chief men resolved to vent
+their spite by insulting the prince in the most open and public way at
+the table of his father. The king was keeping his birthday, which was
+always, in Persia, the greatest festival of the year, and so the most
+public occasion possible. All the nobles of the realm were invited to
+the banquet; and all came and took their several places. The prince
+was absent at the first, but shortly arrived, bringing with him, as the
+excuse for his late appearance, a quantity of game, the produce of the
+morning's chase. Such an entrance must have created some disturbance
+and have drawn general attention; but the nobles, who were bound by
+etiquette to rise from their seats, remained firmly fixed in them, and
+took not the slightest notice of the prince's arrival. This behavior was
+an indignity which naturally aroused his resentment. In the heat of the
+moment he exclaimed aloud that "those who had insulted him should one
+day suffer for it--their fate should be the fate of Marsyas." At first
+the threat was not understood; but one chieftain, more learned than
+his fellows, explained to the rest that, according to the Greek myth,
+Marsyas was flayed alive. Now, flaying alive was a punishment not
+unknown to the Persian law; and the nobles, fearing that the prince
+really entertained the intention which he had expressed, became
+thoroughly alienated from him, and made up their minds that they would
+not allow him to reign. During his father's lifetime, they could, of
+course, do nothing; but they laid up the dread threat in their memory,
+and patiently waited for the moment when the throne would become vacant,
+and their enemy would assert his right to it.
+
+Apparently, their patience was not very severely taxed. Hormisdas II.
+died within a few years; and Prince Hormisdas, as the only son whom he
+had left behind him, thought to succeed as a matter of course. But the
+nobles rose in insurrection, seized his person, and threw him into a
+dungeon, intending that he should remain there for the rest of his life.
+They themselves took the direction of affairs, and finding that, though
+King Hormisdas had left behind him no other son, yet one of his wives
+was pregnant, they proclaimed the unborn infant king, and even with the
+utmost ceremony proceeded to crown the embryo by suspending the royal
+diadem over the womb of the mother. A real interregnum must have
+followed; but it did not extend beyond a few months. The pregnant widow
+of Hormisdas fortunately gave birth to a boy, and the difficulties of
+the succession were thereby ended. All classes acquiesced in the rule
+of the infant monarch, who received the name of Sapor--whether simply to
+mark the fact that he was believed to be the late king's son, or in the
+hope that he would rival the glories of the first Sapor, is uncertain.
+
+The reign of Sapor II. is estimated variously, at 69, 70, 71, and 72
+years; but the balance of authority is in favor of seventy. He was born
+in the course of the year A.D. 309, and he seems to have died in the
+year after the Roman emperor Valens, or A.D. 379. He thus reigned nearly
+three-quarters of a century, being contemporary with the Roman emperors,
+Galerius, Constantine, Constantius and Constans, Julian, Jovian,
+Valentinian I., Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian II.
+
+This long reign is best divided into periods. The first period of it
+extended from A.D. 309 to A.D. 337, or a space of twenty-eight years.
+This was the time anterior to Sapor's wars with the Romans. It included
+the sixteen years of his minority and a space of twelve years during
+which he waged successful wars with the Arabs. The minority of Sapor was
+a period of severe trial to Persia. On every side the bordering nations
+endeavored to take advantage of the weakness incident to the rule of a
+minor, and attacked and ravaged the empire at their pleasure. The Arabs
+were especially aggressive, and made continual raids into Babylonia,
+Khuzistan, and the adjoining regions, which desolated these provinces
+and carried the horrors of war into the very heart of the empire. The
+tribes of Beni-Ayar and Abdul-Kais, which dwelt on the southern shores
+of the Persian Gulf, took the lead in these incursions, and though not
+attempting any permanent conquests, inflicted terrible sufferings on
+the inhabitants of the tracts which they invaded. At the same time a
+Mesopotamian. chieftain, called Tayer or Thair, made an attack upon
+Otesiphon, took the city by storm, and captured a sister or aunt of the
+Persian monarch. The nobles, who, during Sapor's minority, guided the
+helm of the State, were quite incompetent to make head against these
+numerous enemies. For sixteen years the marauding bands had the
+advantage, and Persia found herself continually weaker, more
+impoverished, and less able to recover herself. The young prince is said
+to have shown extraordinary discretion and intelligence. He diligently
+trained himself in all manly exercises, and prepared both his mind
+and body for the important duties of his station. But his tender years
+forbade him as yet taking the field; and it is not unlikely that his
+ministers prolonged the period of his tutelage in order to retain,
+to the latest possible moment, the power whereto they had become
+accustomed. At any rate, it was not till he was sixteen, a later age
+than Oriental ideas require, that Sapor's minority ceased--that he
+asserted his manhood, and, placing himself at the head of his army, took
+the entire direction of affairs, civil and military, into his own hands.
+
+From this moment the fortunes of Persia began to rise. Content at first
+to meet and chastise the marauding bands on his own territory, Sapor,
+after a time, grew bolder, and ventured to take the offensive. Having
+collected a fleet of considerable size, he placed his troops on board,
+and conveyed them to the city of El-Katif, an important place on the
+south coast of the Persian Gulf, where he disembarked and proceeded
+to carry fire and sword through the adjacent region. Either on this
+occasion, or more probably in a long series of expeditions, he ravaged
+the whole district of the Hejer, gaining numerous victories over the
+tribes of the Temanites, the Beni-Wa'iel, the Abdul-Kais, and others,
+which had taken a leading part in the invasion of Persia. His military
+genius and his valor were everywhere conspicuous; but unfortunately
+these excellent qualities were unaccompanied by the humanity which has
+been the crowning virtue oL many a conqueror. Sapor, exasperated by the
+sufferings of his countrymen during so many years, thought that he could
+not too severely punish those who had inflicted them. He put to the
+sword the greater part of every tribe that he conquered; and, when his
+soldiers were weary of slaying, he made them pierce the shoulders of
+their prisoners, and insert in the wound a string or thong by which to
+drag them into captivity. The barbarity of the age and nation approved
+these atrocities; and the monarch who had commanded them was, in
+consequence, saluted as Dhoulacta, or "Lord of the Shoulders," by
+an admiring people. Cruelties almost as great, but of a different
+character, were at the same time sanctioned by Sapor in regard to
+one class of his own subjects--viz., those who had made profession
+of Christianity. The Zoroastrian zeal of this king was great, and he
+regarded it as incumbent on him to check the advance which Christianity
+was now making in his territories. He issued severe edicts against the
+Christians soon after attaining his majority; and when they sought
+the protection of the Roman emperor, he punished their disloyalty by
+imposing upon them a fresh tax, the weight of which was oppressive. When
+Symeon, Archbishop of Seleucia, complained of this additional burden in
+an offensive manner, Sapor retaliated by closing the Christian churches,
+confiscating the ecclesiastical property, and putting the complainant
+to death. Accounts of these severities reached Constantine, the Roman
+emperor, who had recently embraced the new religion (which, in spite
+of constant persecution, had gradually overspread the empire), and had
+assumed the character of a sort of general protector of the Christians
+throughout the world. He remonstrated with Sapor, but to no purpose.
+Sapor had formed the resolution to renew the contest terminated
+so unfavorably forty years earlier by his grandfather. He made the
+emperor's interference with Persian affairs, and encouragement of his
+Christian subjects in their perversity, a ground of complaint, and began
+to threaten hostilities. Some negotiations, which are not very clearly
+narrated, followed. Both sides, apparently, had determined on war,
+but both wished to gain time. It is uncertain what would have been the
+result had Constantine lived. But the death of that monarch in the early
+summer of A.D. 337, on his way to the eastern frontier, dispelled the
+last chance of peace by relieving Sapor from the wholesome fear which
+had hitherto restrained his ambition. The military fame of Constantine
+was great, and naturally inspired respect; his power was firmly fixed,
+and he was without competitor or rival. By his removal the whole face
+of affairs was changed; and Sapor, who had almost brought himself to
+venture on a rupture with Rome during Constantine's life, no longer
+hesitated on receiving news of his death, but at once commenced
+hostilities.
+
+It is probable that among the motives which determined the somewhat
+wavering conduct of Sapor at this juncture was a reasonable fear of the
+internal troubles which it seemed to be in the power of the Romans to
+excite among the Persians, if from friends they became enemies. Having
+tested his own military capacity in his Arab wars, and formed an army
+on whose courage, endurance, and attachment he could rely, he was not
+afraid of measuring his strength with that of Rome in the open field;
+but he may well have dreaded the arts which the Imperial State was in
+the habit of employing, to supplement her military shortcomings, in
+wars with her neighbors. There was now at the court of Constantinople a
+Persian refugee of such rank and importance that Constantine had, as it
+were, a pretender ready made to his hand, and could reckon on creating
+dissension among the Persians whenever he pleased, by simply proclaiming
+himself this person's ally and patron. Prince Hormisdas, the elder
+brother of Sapor, and rightful king of Persia, had, after a long
+imprisonment, contrived, by the help of his wife, to escape from his
+dungeon, and had fled to the court of Constantine as early as A.D.
+323. He had been received by the emperor with every mark of honor and
+distinction, had been given a maintenance suited to his rank, and had
+enjoyed other favors. Sapor must have felt himself deeply aggrieved by
+the undue attention paid to his rival; and though he pretended to make
+light of the matter, and even generously sent Hormisdas the wife to whom
+his escape was due, he cannot but have been uneasy at the possession, by
+the Roman emperor, of his brother's person. In weighing the reasons for
+and against war he cannot but have assigned considerable importance to
+this circumstance. It did not ultimately prevent him from challenging
+Rome to the combat; but it may help to account for the hesitation, the
+delay, and the fluctuations of purpose, which we remark in his conduct
+during the four or five years which immediately preceded the death of
+Constantine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+_Position of Affairs on the Death of Constantine. First War of Sapor
+with Rome, A.D. 337-350. First Siege of Nisibis. Obscure Interval.
+Troubles in Armenia, and Recovery of Armenia by the Persians. Sapor's
+Second Siege of Nisibis. Its Failure. Great Battle of Singara. Sapor's
+Son made Prisoner and murdered in cold blood. Third Siege of Nisibis.
+Sapor called away by an Invasion of the Massagatae._
+
+
+[Illustration: CHAPTER-8]
+
+
+"Constantius adversus Persas et Saporem, qui Mesopotamiam vastaverant,
+novem prasliis parum prospere decertavit."--Orosius, Hist. vii. 39.
+
+
+The death of Constantine was followed by the division of the Roman world
+among his sons. The vast empire with which Sapor had almost made up his
+mind to contend was partitioned out into three moderate-sized kingdoms.
+In place of the late brave and experienced emperor, a raw youth, who
+had given no signs of superior ability, had the government of the Roman
+provinces of the East, of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, and
+Egypt. Master of one third of the empire only, and of the least warlike
+portion, Constantius was a foe whom the Persian monarch might well
+despise, and whom he might expect to defeat without much difficulty.
+Moreover, there was much in the circumstances of the time that seemed to
+promise success to the Persian arms in a struggle with Rome. The removal
+of Constantme had been followed by an outburst of licentiousness and
+violence among the Roman soldiery in the capital; and throughout the
+East the army had cast off the restraints of discipline, and given
+indications of a turbulent and seditious spirit. The condition of
+Armenia was also such as to encourage Sapor in his ambitious projects.
+Tiridates, though a persecutor of the Christians in the early part of
+his reign, had been converted by Gregory the Illuminator, and had then
+enforced Christianity on his subjects by fire and sword. A sanguinary
+conflict had followed. A large portion of the Armenians, firmly attached
+to the old national idolatry, had resisted determinedly. Nobles,
+priests, and people had fought desperately in defence of their temples,
+images, and altars; and, though the persistent will of the king overbore
+all opposition, yet the result was the formation of a discontented
+faction, which rose up from time to time against its rulers, and was
+constantly tempted to ally itself with any foreign power from which it
+could hope the re-establishment of the old religion. Armenia had also,
+after the death of Tiridates (in A.D. 314), fallen under the government
+of weak princes. Persia had recovered from it the portion of Media
+Atropatene ceded by the treaty between Galerius and Narses. Sapor,
+therefore, had nothing to fear on this side; and he might reasonably
+expect to find friends among the Armenians themselves, should the
+general position of his affairs allow him to make an effort to extend
+Persian influence once more over the Armenian highland.
+
+The bands of Sapor crossed the Roman frontier soon after, if not even
+before, the death of Constantine; and after an interval of forty years
+the two great powers of the world were once more engaged in a bloody
+conflict. Constantius, having paid the last honors to his father's
+remains, hastened to the eastern frontier, where he found the Roman army
+weak in numbers, badly armed and badly provided, ill-disposed towards
+himself, and almost ready to mutiny. It was necessary, before anything
+could be done to resist the advance of Sapor, that the insubordination
+of the troops should be checked, their wants supplied, and their
+good-will conciliated. Constantius applied himself to effect these
+changes. Meanwhile Sapor set the Arabs and Armenians in motion, inducing
+the Pagan party among the latter to rise in insurrection, deliver
+their king, Tiranus, into his power, and make incursions into the
+Roman territory, while the latter infested with their armed bands the
+provinces of Mesopotamia and Syria. He himself was content, during the
+first year of the war, A.D. 337, with moderate successes, and appeared
+to the Romans to avoid rather than seek a pitched battle. Constantius
+was able, under these circumstances, not only to maintain his ground,
+but to gain certain advantages. He restored the direction of affairs in
+Armenia to the Roman party, detached some of the Mesopotamian Arabs from
+the side of his adversary, and attached them to his own, and even built
+forts in the Persian territory on the further side of the Tigris. But
+the gains made were slight; and in the ensuing year (A.D. 338) Sapor
+took the field in greater force than before, and addressed himself to
+an important enterprise. He aimed, it is evident, from the first, at
+the recovery of Mesopotamia, and at thrusting back the Romans from the
+Tigris to the Euphrates. He found it easy to overrun the open country,
+to ravage the crops, drive off the cattle, and burn the villages and
+homesteads. But the region could not be regarded as conquered, it could
+not be permanently held, unless the strongly fortified posts which
+commanded it, and which were in the hands of Rome, could be captured.
+Of all these the most important was Nisibis. This ancient town, known to
+the Assyrians as Nazibina, was, at any rate from the time of Lucullus,
+the most important city of Mesopotamia. It was situated at the distance
+of about sixty miles from the Tigris, at the edge of the Mons Masius, in
+a broad and fertile plain, watered by one of the affluents of the river
+Khabour, or Aborrhas. The Romans, after their occupation of Mesopotamia,
+had raised it to the rank of a colony; and its defences, which were of
+great strength, had always been maintained by the emperors in a state
+of efficiency. Sapor regarded it as the key of the Roman position in
+the tract between the rivers, and, as early as A.D. 338, sought to make
+himself master of it.
+
+The first siege of Nisibis by Sapor lasted, we are told, sixty-three
+days. Few particulars of it have come down to us. Sapor had attacked the
+city, apparently, in the absence of Constantius, who had been called off
+to Pannonia to hold a conference with his brothers. It was defended,
+not only by its garrison and inhabitants, but by the prayers and
+exhortations of its bishop, St. James, who, if he did not work miracles
+for the deliverance of his countrymen, at any rate sustained and
+animated their resistance. The result was that the bands of Sapor were
+repelled with loss, and he was forced, after wasting two months before
+the walls, to raise the siege and own himself baffled.
+
+After this, for some years the Persian war with Rome languished. It is
+difficult to extract from the brief statements of epitomizers, and the
+loose invectives or panegyrics of orators, the real circumstances of the
+struggle; but apparently the general condition of things was this. The
+Persians were constantly victorious in the open field; Constantius was
+again and again defeated; but no permanent gain was effected by these
+successes. A weakness inherited by the Persians from the Parthians--an
+inability to conduct sieges to a prosperous issue--showed itself; and
+their failures against the fortified posts which Rome had taken care
+to establish in the disputed regions were continual. Up to the close of
+A.D. 340 Sapor had made no important gain, had struck no decisive blow,
+but stood nearly in the same position which he had occupied at the
+commencement of the conflict.
+
+But the year A.D. 341 saw a change. Sapor, after obtaining possession of
+the person of Tiranus, had sought to make himself master of Armenia, and
+had even attempted to set up one of his own relatives as king. But the
+indomitable spirit of the inhabitants, and their firm attachment to
+their Arsacid princes, caused his attempts to fail of any good result,
+and tended on the whole to throw Armenia into the arms of Rome. Sapor,
+after a while, became convinced of the folly of his proceedings, and
+resolved on the adoption of a wholly new policy. He would relinquish
+the idea of conquering, and would endeavor instead to conciliate the
+Armenians, in the hope of obtaining from their gratitude what he had
+been unable to extort from their fears. Tiranus was still living; and
+Sapor, we are told, offered to replace him upon the Armenian throne;
+but, as he had been blinded by his captors, and as Oriental notions
+did not allow a person thus mutilated to exercise royal power, Tiranus
+declined the offer made him, and suggested the substitution of his son,
+Arsaces, who was, like himself, a prisoner in Persia. Sapor readily
+consented; and the young prince, released from captivity, returned
+to his country, and was installed as king by the Persians, with the
+good-will of the natives, who were satisfied so long as they could
+feel that they had at their head a monarch of the ancient stock. The
+arrangement, of course, placed Armenia on the Persian side, and gave
+Sapor for many years a powerful ally in his struggle with Rome.
+
+Thus Sapor had, by the, year A.D. 341, made a very considerable gain. He
+had placed a friendly sovereign on the Armenian throne, had bound him to
+his cause by oaths, and had thereby established his influence, not only
+over Armenia itself, but over the whole tract which lay between Armenia
+and the Caucasus. But he was far from content with these successes. It
+was still his great object to drive the Romans from Mesopotamia; and
+with that object in view it continued to be his first wish to obtain
+possession of Nisibis. Accordingly, having settled Armenian affairs to
+his liking, he made, in A.D. 346, a second attack on the great city of
+Northern Mesopotamia, again investing it with a large body of troops,
+and this time pressing the siege during the space of nearly three
+months. Again, however, the strength of the walls and the endurance of
+the garrison baffled him. Sapor was once more obliged to withdraw from,
+before the place, having suffered greater loss than those whom he had
+assailed, and forfeited much of the prestige which he had acquired by
+his many victories.
+
+It was, perhaps, on account of the repulse from Nisibis, and in the hope
+of recovering his lost laurels, that Sapor, in the next year but one,
+A.D. 348, made an unusual effort. Calling out the entire military
+force of the empire, and augmenting it by large bodies of allies and
+mercenaries, the Persian king, towards the middle of summer, crossed
+the Tigris by three bridges, and with a numerous and well-appointed army
+invaded Central Mesopotamia, probably from Adiabene, or the region near
+and a little south of Nineveh. Constantius, with the Roman army, was
+posted on and about the Sinjax range of hills, in the vicinity of the
+town of Singara, which is represented by the modern village of Sinjar.
+The Roman emperor did not venture to dispute the passage of the river,
+or to meet his adversary in the broad plain which, intervenes between
+the Tigris and the mountain range, but clung to the skirts of the hills,
+and commanded his troops to remain wholly on the defensive. Sapor was
+thus enabled to choose his position, to establish a fortified camp at
+a convenient distance from the enemy, and to occupy the hills in its
+vicinity--some portion of the Sinjar range--with his archers. It is
+uncertain whether, in making these dispositions, he was merely providing
+for his own safety, or whether he was laying a trap into which he hoped
+to entice the Roman army. Perhaps his mind was wide enough to embrace
+both contingencies. At any rate, having thus established a _point
+d'appui_ in his rear, he advanced boldly and challenged the legions
+to an encounter. The challenge was at once accepted, and the battle
+commenced about midday; but now the Persians, having just crossed swords
+with the enemy, almost immediately began to give ground, and retreating
+hastily drew their adversaries along, across the thirsty plain, to the
+vicinity of their fortified camp, where a strong body of horse and the
+flower of the Persian archers were posted. The horse charged, but the
+legionaries easily defeated them, and elated with their success burst
+into the camp, despite the warnings of their leader, who strove vainly
+to check their ardor and to induce them to put off the completion of
+their victory till the next day. A small detachment found within the
+ramparts was put to the sword; and the soldiers scattered themselves
+among the tents, some in quest of booty, others only anxious for some
+means of quenching their raging thirst. Meantime the sun had gone down,
+and the shades of night fell rapidly. Regarding the battle as over,
+and the victory as assured, the Romans gave themselves up to sleep or
+feasting. But now Sapor saw his opportunity--the opportunity for which
+he had perhaps planned and waited. His light troops on the adjacent
+hills commanded the camp, and, advancing on every side, surrounded it.
+They were fresh and eager for the fray; they fought in the security
+afforded by the darkness; while the fires of the camp showed them their
+enemies, worn out with fatigue, sleepy, or drunken. The result, as might
+have been expected, was a terrible carnage. The Persians overwhelmed
+the legionaries with showers of darts and arrows; flight, under the
+circumstances, was impossible; and the Roman soldiers mostly perished
+where they stood. They took, however, ere they died, an atrocious
+revenge. Sapor's son had been made prisoner in the course of the day;
+in their desperation the legionaries turned their fury against this
+innocent youth; they beat him with whips, wounded him with the points of
+their weapons, and finally rushed upon him and killed him with a hundred
+blows.
+
+The battle of Singara, though thus disastrous to the Romans, had not any
+great effect in determining the course or issue of the war. Sapor did
+not take advantage of his victory to attack the rest of the Roman forces
+in Mesopotamia, or even to attempt the siege of any large town. Perhaps
+he had really suffered large losses in the earlier part of the day;
+perhaps he was too much affected by the miserable death of his son to
+care, till time had dulled the edge of his grief, for military glory.
+At any rate, we hear of his undertaking no further enterprise till the
+second year after the battle, A.D. 350, when he made his third and most
+desperate attempt to capture Nisibis.
+
+The rise of a civil war in the West, and the departure of Constantius
+for Europe with the flower of his troops early in the year no doubt
+encouraged the Persian monarch to make one more effort against the place
+which had twice repulsed him with ignominy. He collected a numerous
+native army, and strengthened it by the addition of a body of Indian
+allies, who brought a large troop of elephants into the field. With
+this force he crossed the Tigris in the early summer, and, after taking
+several fortified posts, march northwards and invested Nisibis. The
+Roman commander in the place was the Count Lucilianus, afterwards the
+father-in-law of Jovian, a man of resource and determination. He is said
+to have taken the best advantage of every favorable turn of fortune in
+the course of the siege, and to have prolonged the resistance by various
+subtle stratagems. But the real animating spirit of the defence was once
+more the bishop, St. James, who raised the enthusiasm of the inhabitants
+to the highest pitch by his exhortations, guided them by his counsels,
+and was thought to work miracles for them by his prayers. Sapor tried
+at first the ordinary methods of attack; he battered the walls with his
+rams, and sapped them with mines. But finding that by these means he
+made no satisfactory progress, he had recourse shortly to wholly novel
+proceedings. The river Mygdonius (now the Jerujer), swollen by the
+melting of the snows in the Mons Masius, had overflowed its banks and
+covered with an inundation the plain in which Nisibis stands. Sapor saw
+that the forces of nature might be employed to advance his ends, and so
+embanked the lower part of the plain that the water could not run off,
+but formed a deep lake round the town, gradually creeping up the walls
+till it had almost reached the battlements. Having thus created an
+artificial sea, the energetic monarch rapidly collected, or constructed,
+a fleet of vessels, and, placing his military engines on board, launched
+the ships upon the waters, and so attacked the walls of the city at
+great advantage. But the defenders resisted stoutly, setting the engines
+on fire with torches, and either lifting the ships from the water by
+means of cranes, or else shattering them with the huge stones which they
+could discharge from their balistics. Still, therefore, no impression was
+made; but at last an unforeseen circumstance brought the besieged into
+the greatest peril, and almost gave Nisibis into the enemy's hands. The
+inundation, confined by the mounds of the Persians, which prevented it
+from running off, pressed with continually increasing force against the
+defences of the city, till at last the wall, in one part, proved too
+weak to withstand the tremendous weight which bore upon it, and gave way
+suddenly for the space of a hundred and fifty feet. What further damage
+was done to the town we know not; but a breach was opened through which
+the Persians at once made ready to pour into the place, regarding it as
+impossible that so huge a gap should be either repaired or effectually
+defended. Sapor took up his position on an artificial eminence, while
+his troops rushed to the assault. First of all marched the heavy
+cavalry, accompanied by the horse-archers; next came the elephants,
+bearing iron towers upon their backs, and in each tower a number
+of bowmen; intermixed with the elephants were a certain amount of
+heavy-armed foot. It was a strange column with which to attack a breach;
+and its composition does not say much for Persian siege tactics, which
+were always poor and ineffective, and which now, as usually, resulted in
+failure. The horses became quickly entangled in the ooze and mud which
+the waters had left behind them as they subsided; the elephants were
+even less able to overcome these difficulties, and as soon as they
+received a wound sank down--never to rise again--in the swamp. Sapor
+hastily gave orders for the assailing column to retreat and seek the
+friendly shelter of the Persian camp, while he essayed to maintain his
+advantage in a different way. His light archers were ordered to the
+front, and, being formed into divisions which were to act as reliefs,
+received orders to prevent the restoration of the ruined wall by
+directing an incessant storm of arrows into the gap made by the waters.
+But the firmness and activity of the garrison and inhabitants defeated
+this well-imagined proceeding. While the heavy-armed troops stood in
+the gap receiving the flights of arrows and defending themselves as
+they best could, the unarmed multitude raised a new wall in their rear,
+which, by the morning of the next day, was six feet in height. This
+last proof of his enemies' resolution and resource seems to have finally
+convinced Sapor of the hopelessness of his enterprise. Though he still
+continued the siege for a while, he made no other grand attack, and at
+length drew off his forces, having lost twenty thousand men before the
+walls, and wasted a hundred days, or more than three months.
+
+Perhaps he would not have departed so soon, but would have turned
+the siege into a blockade, and endeavored to starve the garrison into
+submission, had not alarming tidings reached him from his north-eastern
+frontier. Then, as now, the low flat sandy region east of the Caspian
+was in the possession of nomadic hordes, whose whole life was spent in
+war and plunder. The Oxus might be nominally the boundary of the empire
+in this quarter; but the nomads were really dominant over the entire
+desert to the foot of the Hyrcanian and Parthian hills. Petty plundering
+forays into the fertile region south and east of the desert were no
+doubt constant, and were not greatly regarded; but from time to time
+some tribe or chieftain bolder than the rest made a deeper inroad and
+a more sustained attack than usual, spreading consternation around,
+and terrifying the court for its safety. Such an attack seems to have
+occurred towards the autumn of A.D. 350. The invading horde is said to
+have consisted of Massagatae; but we can hardly be mistaken in regarding
+them as, in the main, of Tatar, or Turkoman blood, akin to the Usbegs
+and other Turanian tribes which still inhabit the sandy steppe. Sapor
+considered the crisis such as to require his own presence; and thus,
+while civil war summoned one of the two rivals from Mesopotamia to
+the far West, where he had to contend with the self-styled emperors,
+Magnentius and Vetranio, the other was called away to the extreme East
+to repel a Tatar invasion. A tacit truce was thus established between
+the great belligerents--a truce which lasted for seven or eight years.
+The unfortunate Mesopotamians, harassed by constant war for above twenty
+years, had now a breathing-space during which to recover from the ruin
+and desolation that had overwhelmed them. Rome and Persia for a time
+suspended their conflict. Rivalry, indeed, did not cease; but it was
+transferred from the battlefield to the cabinet, and the Roman
+emperor sought and found in diplomatic triumphs a compensation for the
+ill-success which had attended his efforts in the field.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+_Revolt of Armenia and Acceptance by Arsaces of the Position of a Roman
+Feudatory. Character and Issue of Sapor's Eastern Wars. His negotiations
+with Constantius. His Extreme Demands. Circumstances under which he
+determines to renew the War. His Preparations. Desertion to him of
+Antoninus. Great Invasion of Sapor. Siege of Amida. Sapor's Severities.
+Siege and Capture of Singara; of Bezabde. Attack on Virtu fails.
+Aggressive Movement of Constantius. He attacks Bezabde, but fails
+Campaign of A.D. 361. Death of Constantius._
+
+
+Evenerat . . . quasi fatali constellatione . . . ut Constantium
+dimicantem cum Persis fortuna semper sequeretur afflictior.--Amm. Marc.
+xx. 9, ad fin.
+
+
+It seems to have been soon after the close of Sapor's first war with
+Constantius that events took place in Armenia which once more replaced
+that country under Roman influence. Arsaces, the son of Tiranus, had
+been, as we have seen, established as monarch, by Sapor, in the year
+A.D. 341, under the notion that, in return for the favor shown him, he
+would administer Armenia in the Persian interest. But gratitude is an
+unsafe basis for the friendships of monarchs. Arsaces, after a time,
+began to chafe against the obligations under which Sapor had laid him,
+and to wish, by taking independent action, to show himself a real king,
+and not a mere feudatory. He was also, perhaps, tired of aiding Sapor in
+his Roman war, and may have found that he suffered more than he gained
+by having Rome for an enemy. At any rate, in the interval between A.D.
+351 and 359, probably while Sapor was engaged in the far East, Arsaces
+sent envoys to Constantinople with a request to Constantius that he
+would give him in marriage a member of the Imperial house. Constantius
+was charmed with the application made to him, and at once accepted the
+proposal. He selected for the proffered honor a certain Olympias, the
+daughter of Ablabius, a Praetorian prefect, and lately the betrothed
+bride of his own brother, Constans; and sent her to Armenia, where
+Arsaces welcomed her, and made her (as it would seem) his chief wife,
+provoking thereby the jealousy and aversion of his previous sultana, a
+native Armenian, named Pharandzem. The engagement thus entered into led
+on, naturally, to the conclusion of a formal alliance between Rome and
+Armenia--an alliance which Sapor made fruitless efforts to disturb, and
+which continued unimpaired down to the time A.D. 359 when hostilities
+once more broke out between Rome and Persia.
+
+Of Sapor's Eastern wars we have no detailed account. They seem to have
+occupied him from A.D. 350 to A.D. 357, and to have been, on the whole,
+successful. They were certainly terminated by a peace in the last-named
+year--a peace of which it must have been a condition that his late
+enemies should lend him aid in the struggle which he was about to renew
+with Rome. Who these enemies exactly were, and what exact region they
+inhabited, is doubtful. They comprised certainly the Chionites and
+Gelani, probably the Euseni and the Vertse. The Chionites are thought to
+have been Hiongnu or Huns; and the Euseni are probably the Usiun,
+who, as early as B.C. 200, are found among the nomadic hordes pressing
+towards the Oxus. The Vertse are wholly unknown. The Gelani should, by
+their name, be the inhabitants of Ghilan, or the coast tract south-west
+of the Caspian; but this locality seems too remote from the probable
+seats of the Chionites and Euseni to be the one intended. The general
+scene of the wars was undoubtedly east of the Caspian, either in the
+Oxus region, or still further eastward, on the confines of India and
+Scythia. The result of the wars, though not a conquest, was an extension
+of Persian influence and power. Troublesome enemies were converted into
+friends and allies. The loss of a predominating influence over Armenia
+was thus compensated, or more than compensated, within a few years, by a
+gain of a similar kind in another quarter.
+
+While Sapor was thus engaged in the far East, he received letters
+from the officer whom he had left in charge of his western frontier,
+informing him that the Romans were anxious to exchange the precarious
+truce which Mesopotamia had been allowed to enjoy during the last
+five or six years for a more settled and formal peace. Two great Roman
+officials, Cassianus, duke of Mesopotamia, and Musonianus, Praetorian
+prefect, understanding that Sapor was entangled in a bloody and
+difficult war at the eastern extremity of his empire, and knowing that
+Constantius was fully occupied with the troubles caused by the inroads
+of the barbarians into the more western of the Roman provinces, had
+thought that the time was favorable for terminating the provisional
+state of affairs in the Mesopotamian region by an actual treaty. They
+had accordingly opened negotiations with Tamsapor, satrap of Adiabene,
+and suggested to him that he should sound his master on the subject
+of making peace with Rome. Tamsapor appears to have misunderstood the
+character of these overtures, or to have misrepresented them to Sapor;
+in his despatch he made Constantius himself the mover in the matter,
+and spoke of him as humbly supplicating the great king to grant him
+conditions. It happened that the message reached Sapor just as he had
+come to terms with his eastern enemies, and had succeeded in inducing
+them to become his allies. He was naturally elated at his success, and
+regarded the Roman overture as a simple acknowledgment of weakness.
+Accordingly he answered in the most haughty style. His letter, which was
+conveyed to the Roman emperor at Sirmium by an ambassador named Narses,
+was conceived in the following terms:
+
+"Sapor, king of kings, brother of the sun and moon, and companion of the
+stars, sends salutation to his brother, Constantius Caesar. It glads me
+to see that thou art at last returned to the right way, and art ready to
+do what is just and fair, having learned by experience that inordinate
+greed is oft-times punished by defeat and disaster. As then the voice
+of truth ought to speak with all openness, and the more illustrious of
+mankind should make their words mirror their thoughts, I will briefly
+declare to thee what I propose, not forgetting that I have often said
+the same things before. Your own authors are witness that the entire
+tract within the river Strymon and the borders of Macedon was once held
+by my ancestors; if I required you to restore all this, it would not ill
+become me (excuse the boast), inasmuch as I excel in virtue and in the
+splendor of my achievements the whole line of our ancient monarchs.
+But as moderation delights me, and has always been the rule of my
+conduct--wherefore from my youth up I have had no occasion to repent of
+any action--I will be content to receive Mesopotamia and Armenia, which
+was fraudulently extorted from my grandfather. We Persians have never
+admitted the principle, which you proclaim with such effrontery, that
+success in war is always glorious, whether it be the fruit of courage or
+trickery. In conclusion, if you will take the advice of one who speaks
+for your good, sacrifice a small tract of territory, one always in
+dispute and causing continual bloodshed, in order that you may rule the
+remainder securely. Physicians, remember, often cut and burn, and even
+amputate portions of the body, that the patient may have the healthy use
+of what is left to him; and there are animals which, understanding why
+the hunters chase them, deprive themselves of the thing coveted, to live
+thenceforth without fear. I warn you, that, if my ambassador returns in
+vain, I will take the field against you, so soon as the winter is past,
+with all my forces, confiding in my good fortune and in the fairness of
+the conditions which I have now offered."
+
+It must have been a severe blow to Imperial pride to receive such a
+letter: and the sense of insult can scarcely have been much mitigated by
+the fact that the missive was enveloped in a silken covering, or by the
+circumstance that the bearer, Narses, endeavored by his conciliating
+manners to atone for his master's rudeness. Constantius replied,
+however, in a dignified and calm tone. "The Roman emperor," he said,
+"victorious by land and sea, saluted his brother, King Sapor. His
+lieutenant in Mesopotamia had meant well in opening a negotiation with
+a Persian governor; but he had acted without orders, and could not bind
+his master. Nevertheless, he (Constantius) would not disclaim what had
+been done, since he did not object to a peace, provided it were fair and
+honorable. But to ask the master of the whole Roman world to surrender
+territories which he had successfully defended when he ruled only over
+the provinces of the East was plainly indecent and absurd. He must add
+that the employment of threats was futile, and too common an artifice;
+more especially as the Persians themselves must know that Rome always
+defended herself when attacked, and that, if occasionally she was
+vanquished in a battle, yet she never failed to have the advantage in
+the event of every war." Three envoys were entrusted with the delivery
+of this reply--Prosper, a count of the empire; Spectatus, a tribune
+and notary; and Eustathius, an orator and philosopher, a pupil of
+the celebrated Neo-Platonist, Jamblichus, and a friend of St. Basil.
+Constantius was most anxious for peace, as a dangerous war threatened
+with the Alemanni, one of the most powerful tribes of Germany. He seems
+to have hoped that, if the unadorned language of the two statesmen
+failed to move Sapor, he might be won over by the persuasive eloquence
+of the professor of rhetoric.
+
+But Sapor was bent on war. He had concluded arrangements with the
+natives so long his adversaries in the East, by which they had pledged
+themselves to join his standard with all their forces in the ensuing
+spring. He was well aware of the position of Constantius in the West,
+of the internal corruption of his court, and of the perils constantly
+threatening him from external enemies. A Roman official of importance,
+bearing the once honored name of Antoninus, had recently taken refuge
+with him from the claims of pretended creditors, and had been received
+into high favor on account of the information which he was able to
+communicate with respect to the disposition of the Roman forces and the
+condition of their magazines. This individual, ennobled by the royal
+authority, and given a place at the royal table, gained great influence
+over his new master, whom he stimulated by alternately reproaching him
+with his backwardness in the past, and putting before him the prospect
+of easy triumphs over Rome in the future. He pointed out that the
+emperor, with the bulk of his troops and treasures, was detained in
+the regions adjoining the Danube, and that the East was left almost
+undefended; he magnified the services which he was himself competent to
+render; he exhorted Sapor to bestir himself, and to put confidence
+in his good fortune. He recommended that the old plan of sitting down
+before walled towns should be given up, and that the Persian monarch,
+leaving the strongholds of Mesopotamia in his rear, should press forward
+to the Euphrates, pour his troops across it, and overrun the rich
+province of Syria, which he would find unguarded, and which had not been
+invaded by an enemy for nearly a century. The views of Antoninus were
+adopted; but, in practice, they were overruled by the exigencies of the
+situation. A Roman army occupied Mesopotamia, and advanced to the
+banks of the Tigris. When the Persians in full force crossed the river,
+accompanied by Chionite and Albanian allies, they found a considerable
+body of troops prepared to resist them. Their opponents did not, indeed
+offer battle, but they laid waste the country as the Persians took
+possession of it; they destroyed the forage, evacuated the indefensible
+towns (which fell, of course, into the enemy's hands), and fortified
+the line of the Euphrates with castles, military engines, and palisades.
+Still the programme of Antoninus would probably have been carried out,
+had not the swell of the Euphrates exceeded the average, and rendered it
+impossible for the Persian troops to ford the river at the usual point
+of passage into Syria. On discovering this obstacle, Antoninus suggested
+that, by a march to the north-east through a fertile country, the "Upper
+Euphrates" might be reached, and easily crossed, before its waters had
+attained any considerable volume. Sapor agreed to adopt this suggestion.
+He marched from Zeugma across the Mons Masius towards the Upper
+Euphrates, defeated the Romans in an important battle near Arnida,
+took, by a sudden assault, two castles which defended the town, and then
+somewhat hastily resolved that he would attack the place, which he did
+not imagine capable of making much resistance.
+
+Amida, now Diarbekr, was situated on the right bank of the Upper Tigris,
+in a fertile plain, and was washed along the whole of its western
+side by a semi-circular bend of the river. It had been a place of
+considerable importance from a very ancient date, and had recently
+been much strengthened by Constantius, who had made it an arsenal
+for military engines, and had repaired its towers and walls. The town
+contained within it a copious fountain of water, which was liable,
+however, to acquire a disagreeable odor in the summer time. Seven
+legions, of the moderate strength to which legions had been reduced
+by Constantine, defended it; and the garrison included also a body of
+horse-archers, composed chiefly or entirely of noble foreigners. Sapor
+hoped in the first instance to terrify it into submission by his mere
+appearance, and boldly rode up to the gates with a small body of his
+followers, expecting that they would be opened to him. But the defenders
+were more courageous than he had imagined. They received him with a
+shower of darts and arrows that were directed specially against his
+person, which was conspicuous from its ornaments; and they aimed their
+weapons so well that one of them passed through a portion of his dress
+and was nearly wounding him. Persuaded by his followers, Sapor upon
+this withdrew, and committed the further prosecution of the attack to
+Grumbates, the king of the Chionites, who assaulted the walls on the
+next day with a body of picked troops, but was repulsed with great loss,
+his only son, a youth of great promise, being killed at his side by a
+dart from a balista. The death of this prince spread dismay through the
+camp, and was followed by a general mourning; but it now became a point
+of honor to take the town which had so injured one of the great king's
+royal allies; and Grumbates was promised that Amida should become the
+funeral pile of his lost darling.
+
+The town was now regularly invested. Each nation was assigned its place.
+The Chionites, burning with the desire to avenge their late defeat, were
+on the east; the Vertse on the south; the Albanians, warriors from
+the Caspian region, on the north; the Segestans, who were reckoned the
+bravest soldiers of all, and who brought into the field a large body
+of elephants, held the west. A continuous line of Persians, five
+ranks deep, surrounded the entire city, and supported the auxiliary
+detachments. The entire besieging army was estimated at a hundred
+thousand men; the besieged, including the unarmed multitude, were under
+30,000. After the pause of an entire day, the first general attack was
+made. Grumbates gave the signal for the assault by hurling a bloody
+spear into the space before the walls, after the fashion of a Roman
+fetialis. A cloud of darts and arrows from every side followed the
+flight of this weapon, and did severe damage to the besieged, who were
+at the same time galled with discharges from Roman military engines,
+taken by the Persians in some capture of Singara, and now employed
+against their former owners. Still a vigorous resistance continued to be
+made, and the besiegers, in their exposed positions, suffered even more
+than the garrison; so that after two days the attempt to carry the city
+by general assault was abandoned, and the slow process of a regular
+siege was adopted. Trenches were opened at the usual distance from
+the walls, along which the troops advanced under the cover of hurdles
+towards the ditch, which they proceeded to fill up in places. Mounds
+were then thrown up against the walls; and movable towers were
+constructed and brought into play, guarded externally with iron, and
+each mounting a balista. It was impossible long to withstand these
+various weapons of attack. The hopes of the besieged lay, primarily, in
+their receiving relief from without by the advance of an army capable
+of engaging their assailants and harassing them or driving them off;
+secondarily, in successful sallies, by means of which they might destroy
+the enemy's works and induce him to retire from before the place.
+
+There existed, in the neighborhood of Amida, the elements of a relieving
+army, under the command of the new prefect of the East, Sabinianus.
+Had this officer possessed an energetic and enterprising character,
+he might, without much difficulty, have collected a force of light and
+active soldiers, which might have hung upon the rear of the Persians,
+intercepted their convoys, cut off their stragglers, and have even made
+an occasional dash upon their lines. Such was the course of conduct
+recommended by Ursicinus, the second in command, whom Sabinianus had
+recently superseded; but the latter was jealous of his subordinate,
+and had orders from the Byzantine court to keep him unemployed. He
+was himself old and rich, alike disinclined to and unfit for military
+enterprise; he therefore absolutely rejected the advice of Ursicinus,
+and determined on making no effort. He had positive orders, he said,
+from the court to keep on the defensive and not endanger his troops by
+engaging them in hazardous adventures. Amida must protect itself, or at
+any rate not look to him for succor. Ursicinus chafed terribly, it
+is said, against this decision, but was forced to submit to it. His
+messengers conveyed the dispiriting intelligence to the devoted city,
+which learned thereby that it must rely wholly upon its own exertions.
+
+Nothing now remained but to organize sallies on a large scale and attack
+the besieger's works. Such attempts were made from time to time with
+some success; and on one occasion two Gaulish legions, banished to the
+East for their adherence to the cause of Magnentius, penetrated, by
+night, into the heart of the besieging camp, and brought the person of
+the monarch into danger. This peril was, however, escaped; the legions
+were repulsed with the loss of a sixth of their number; and nothing was
+gained by the audacious enterprise beyond a truce of three days, during
+which each side mourned its dead, and sought to repair its losses.
+
+The fate of the doomed city drew on. Pestilence was added to the
+calamities which the besieged had to endure. Desertion and treachery
+were arrayed against them. One of the natives of Amida, going over to
+the Persians, informed them that on the southern side of the city
+a neglected staircase led up from the margin of the Tigris through
+underground corridors to one of the principal bastions; and under his
+guidance seventy archers of the Persian guard, picked men, ascended
+the dark passage at dead of night, occupied the tower, and when morning
+broke displayed from it a scarlet flag, as a sign to their countrymen
+that a portion of the wall was taken. The Persians were upon the alert,
+and an instant assault was made. But the garrison, by extraordinary
+efforts, succeeded in recapturing the tower before any support reached
+its occupants; and then, directing their artillery and missiles against
+the assailing columns, inflicted on them tremendous losses, and soon
+compelled them to return hastily to the shelter of their camp. The
+Verte, who maintained the siege on the south side of the city, were the
+chief sufferers in this abortive attempt.
+
+Sapor had now spent seventy days before the place, and had made no
+perceptible impression. Autumn was already far advanced, and the
+season for military operations would, soon be over. It was necessary,
+therefore, either to take the city speedily or to give up the siege and
+retire. Under these circumstances Sapor resolved on a last effort. He
+had constructed towers of such a height that they overtopped the wall,
+and poured their discharges on the defenders from a superior elevation.
+He had brought his mounds in places to a level with the ramparts, and
+had compelled the garrison to raise countermounds within the walls for
+their protection. He now determined on pressing the assault day after
+day, until he either carried the town or found all his resources
+exhausted. His artillery, his foot, and his elephants were all employed
+in turn or together; he allowed the garrison no rest. Not content with
+directing the operations, he himself took part in the supreme struggle,
+exposing his own person freely to the enemy's weapons, and losing many
+of his attendants. After the contest had lasted three continuous days
+from morn to night, fortune at last favored him. One of the inner
+mounds, raised by the besieged behind their wall, suddenly gave way,
+involving its defenders in its fall, and at the same time filling up
+the entire space between the wall and the mound raised outside by the
+Persians. A way into the town was thus laid open, and the besiegers
+instantly occupied it. 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. The place was therefore
+given over to the infuriated soldiery, who were allowed to slay and
+plunder at their pleasure. Of the captives taken, all belonging to the
+five provinces across the Tigris, claimed as his own by Sapor, though
+ceded to Rome by his grandfather, were massacred in cold blood. The
+Count Elian, and the commanders of the legions who had conducted the
+gallant defence, were barbarously crucified. Many other Romans of high
+rank were subjected to the indignity of being manacled, and were dragged
+into Persia as slaves rather than as prisoners.
+
+The campaign of A.D. 359 terminated with this dearly bought victory. The
+season was too far advanced for any fresh enterprise of importance;
+and Sapor was probably glad to give his army a rest after the toils
+and perils of the last three months. Accordingly he retired across
+the Tigris, without leaving (so far as appears) any garrisons in
+Mesopotamia, and began preparations for the campaign of A.D. 360. Stores
+of all kinds were accumulated during the winter; and, when the spring
+came, the indefatigable monarch once more invaded the enemy's country,
+pouring into Mesopotamia an army even more numerous and better appointed
+than that which he had led against Amida in the preceding year. His
+first object now was to capture Singara, a town of some consequence,
+which was, however, defended by only two Roman legions and a certain
+number of native soldiers. After a vain attempt to persuade the garrison
+to a surrender, the attack was made in the usual way, chiefly by scaling
+parties with ladders, and by battering parties which shook the walls
+with the ram. The defenders kept the sealers at bay by a constant
+discharge of stones and darts from their artillery, arrows from their
+bows, and leaden bullets from their slings. They met the assaults of the
+ram by attempts to fire the wooden covering which protected it and those
+who worked it. For some days these efforts sufficed; but after a while
+the besiegers found a weak point in the defences of the place--a tower
+so recently built that the mortar in which the stones were laid was
+still moist, and which consequently crumbled rapidly before the blows
+of a strong and heavy battering-ram, and in a short time fell to the
+ground. The Persians poured in through the gap, and were at once masters
+of the entire town, which ceased to resist after the catastrophe. This
+easy victory allowed Sapor to exhibit the better side of his character;
+he forbade the further shedding of blood, and ordered that as many as
+possible of the garrisons and citizens should be taken alive. Reviving
+a favorite policy of Oriental rulers from very remote times, he
+transported these captives to the extreme eastern parts of his empire,
+where they might be of the greatest service to him in defending his
+frontier against the Scythians and Indians.
+
+It is not really surprising, though the historian of the war regards it
+as needing explanation, that no attempt was made to relieve Singara by
+the Romans. The siege was short; the place was considered strong; the
+nearest point held by a powerful Roman force was Nisibis, which was at
+least sixty miles distant from Singara. The neighborhood of Singara was,
+moreover, ill supplied with water; and a relieving army would probably
+have soon found itself in difficulties. Singara, on the verge of the
+desert, was always perilously situated. Rome valued it as an outpost
+from which her enemy might be watched, and which might advertise her of
+a sudden danger, but could not venture to undertake its defence in case
+of an attack in force, and was prepared to hear of its capture with
+equanimity.
+
+From Singara Sapor directed his march almost due northwards, and,
+leaving Nisibis unassailed upon his left, proceeded to attack the strong
+fort known indifferently as Phoenica or Bezabde. This was a position on
+the east bank of the Tigris, near the point where that river quits the
+mountains and debouches upon the plain; though not on the site, it may
+be considered the representative of the modern Jezireh, which commands
+the passes from the low country into the Kurdish mountains. Bezabde was
+the chief city of the province, called after it Zabdicene, one of the
+five ceded by Narses and greatly coveted by his grandson. It was much
+valued by Rome, was fortified in places with a double wall, and was
+guarded by three legions and a large body of Kurdish archers. Sapor,
+having reconnoitred the place, and, with his usual hardihood, exposed
+himself to danger in doing so, sent a flag of truce to demand a
+surrender, joining with the messengers some prisoners of high rank taken
+at Singara, lest the enemy should open fire upon his envoys. The device
+was successful; but the garrison proved stanch, and determined on
+resisting to the last. Once more all the known resources of attack and
+defence were brought into play; and after a long siege, of which the
+most important incident was an attempt made by the bishop of the place
+to induce Sapor to withdraw, the wall was at last breached, the city
+taken, and its defenders indiscriminately massacred. Regarding the
+position as one of first-rate importance, Sapor, who had destroyed
+Singara, carefully repaired the defences of Bezabde, provisioned it
+abundantly, and garrisoned it with some of his best troops. He was well
+aware that the Romans would feel keenly the loss of so important a post,
+and expected that it would not be long before they made an effort to
+recover possession of it.
+
+The winter was now approaching, but the Persian monarch still kept the
+field. The capture of Bezabde was followed by that of many other less
+important strongholds, which offered little resistance. At last, towards
+the close of the year, an attack was made upon a place called Virta,
+said to have been a fortress of great strength, and by some moderns
+identified with Tekrit, an important city upon the Tigris between
+Mosul and Bagdad. Here the career of the conqueror was at last arrested.
+Persuasion and force proved alike unavailing to induce or compel a
+surrender; and, after wasting the small remainder of the year, and
+suffering considerable loss, the Persian monarch reluctantly gave up the
+siege, and returned to his own country.
+
+Meanwhile the movements of the Roman emperor had been slow and
+uncertain. Distracted between a jealous fear of his cousin Julian's
+proceedings in the West, and a desire of checking the advance of his
+rival Sapor in the East, he had left Constantinople in the early spring,
+but had journeyed leisurely through Cappadocia and Armenia Minor to
+Samosata, whence, after crossing the Euphrates, he had proceeded to
+Edessa, and there fixed himself. While in Cappadocia he had summoned to
+his presence Arsaces, the tributary king of Armenia, had reminded him
+of his engagements, and had endeavored to quicken his gratitude by
+bestowing on him liberal presents. At Edessa he employed himself during
+the whole of the summer in collecting troops and stores; nor was it till
+the autumnal equinox was past that he took the field, and, after weeping
+over the smoking ruins of Amida, marched to Bezabde, and, when the
+defenders rejected his overtures of peace, formed the siege of the
+place. Sapor was, we must suppose, now engaged before Virta, and it is
+probable that he thought Bezabde strong enough to defend itself. At any
+rate, he made no effort to afford it any relief; and the Roman emperor
+was allowed to employ all the resources at his disposal in reiterated
+assaults upon the walls. The defence, however, proved stronger than the
+attack. Time after time the bold sallies of the besieged destroyed the
+Roman works. At last the rainy season set in, and the low ground
+outside the town became a glutinous and adhesive marsh. It was no longer
+possible to continue the siege; and the disappointed emperor reluctantly
+drew off his troops, recrossed the Euphrates, and retired into winter
+quarters at Antioch.
+
+The successes of Sapor in the campaigns of A.D. 359 and 360, his
+captures of Amida, Singara, and Bezabde, together with the unfortunate
+issue of the expedition made by Constantius against the last-named
+place, had a tendency to shake the fidelity of the Roman vassal-kings,
+Arsaces of Armenia, and Meribanes of Iberia. Constantius, therefore,
+during the winter of A.D. 360-1, which he passed at Antioch, sent
+emissaries to the courts of these monarchs, and endeavored to secure
+their fidelity by loading them with costly presents. His policy seems to
+have been so far successful that no revolt of these kingdoms took place;
+they did not as yet desert the Romans or make their submission to Sapor.
+Their monarchs seem to have simply watched events, prepared to declare
+themselves distinctly on the winning side so soon as fortune should
+incline unmistakably to one or the other combatant. Meanwhile they
+maintained the fiction of a nominal dependence upon Rome.
+
+It might have been expected that the year A.D. 361 would have been a
+turning-point in the war, and that, if Rome did not by a great effort
+assert herself and recover her prestige, the advance of Persia would
+have been marked and rapid. But the actual course of events was far
+different. Hesitation and diffidence characterize the movements of
+both parties to the contest, and the year is signalized by no important
+enterprise on the part of either monarch. Constantius reoccupied Edessa,
+and had (we are told) some thoughts of renewing the siege of Bezabde;
+actually, however, he did not advance further, but contented himself
+with sending a part of his army to watch Sapor, giving them strict
+orders not to risk an engagement. Sapor, on his side, began the year
+with demonstrations which were taken to mean that he was about to pass
+the Euphrates; but in reality he never even brought his troops across
+the Tigris, or once set foot in Mesopotamia. After wasting weeks or
+months in a futile display of his armed strength upon the eastern bank
+of the river, and violently alarming the officers sent by Constantius to
+observe his movements, he suddenly, towards autumn, withdrew his troops,
+having attempted nothing, and quietly returned to his capital! It is by
+no means difficult to understand the motives which actuated Constantius.
+He was, month after month, receiving intelligence from the West of steps
+taken by Julian which amounted to open rebellion, and challenged him
+to engage in civil war. So long as Sapor threatened invasion he did not
+like to quit Mesopotamia, lest he might appear to have sacrificed the
+interests of his country to his own private quarrels; but he must have
+been anxious to return to the seat of empire from the first moment that
+intelligence reached him of Julian's assumption of the imperial name and
+dignity; and when Sapor's retreat was announced he naturally made all
+haste to reach his capital. Meanwhile the desire of keeping his army
+intact caused him to refrain from any movement which involved the
+slightest risk of bringing on a battle, and, in fact, reduced him
+to inaction. So much is readily intelligible. But what at this time
+withheld Sapor, when he had so grand an opportunity of making an
+impression upon Rome--what paralyzed his arm when it might have struck
+with such effect it is far from easy to understand, though perhaps
+not impossible to conjecture. The historian of the war ascribes his
+abstinence to a religious motive, telling us that the auguries were not
+favorable for the Persians crossing the Tigris. But there is no other
+evidence that the Persians of this period were the slaves of any such
+superstition as that noted by Ammianus, nor any probability that a
+monarch of Sapor's force of character would have suffered his military
+policy to be affected by omens. We must therefore ascribe the conduct
+of the Persian king to some cause not recorded by the historian--same
+failure of health, or some peril from internal or external enemies which
+called him away from the scene of his recent exploits, just at the time
+when his continued presence there was most important. Once before in
+his lifetime, an invasion of his eastern provinces had required his
+immediate presence, and allowed his adversary to quit Mesopotamia and
+march against Magnentius. It is not improbable that a fresh attack of
+the same or some other barbarians now again happened opportunely for the
+Romans, calling Sapor away, and thus enabling Constantius to turn his
+hack upon the East, and set out for Europe in order to meet Julian.
+
+The meeting, however, was not destined to take place. On his way from
+Antioch to Constantinople the unfortunate Constantius, anxious and
+perhaps over-fatigued, fell sick at Mopsucrene, in Cilicia, and died
+there, after a short illness, towards the close of A.D. 361. Julian
+the Apostate succeeded peacefully to the empire whereto he was about to
+assert his right by force of arms; and Sapor found that the war which
+he had provoked with Rome, in reliance upon his adversary's weakness and
+incapacity, had to be carried on with a prince of far greater natural
+powers and of much superior military training.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+_Julian becomes Emperor of Rome. His Resolution to invade Persia. His
+Views and Motives. His Proceedings. Proposals of Sapor rejected. Other
+Embassies. Relations of Julian with Armenia. Strength of his Army.
+His invasion of Mesopotamia. His Line of March. Siege of Perisabor; of
+Maogamalcha. Battle of the Tigris. Further Progress of Julian checked
+by his Inability to invest Ctesiphon. His Retreat. His Death. Retreat
+continued by Jovian. Sapor offers Terms of Peace. Peace made by Jovian.
+Its Conditions. Reflections on the Peace and on the Termination of the
+Second Period of Struggle between Rome and Persia._
+
+
+"Julianus, redacta ad unum se orbis Romani curatione, glorise nimis
+cupidus, in Persas proficiscitur."--Aurel. Viet. Epit. Sec.43.
+
+
+The prince on whom the government of the Roman empire, and consequently
+the direction of the Persian war, devolved by the death of Constantius,
+was in the flower of his age, proud, self-confident, and full of energy.
+He had been engaged for a period of four years in a struggle with the
+rude and warlike tribes of Germany, had freed the whole country west
+of the Rhine from the presence of those terrible warriors, and had even
+carried fire and sword far into the wild and savage districts on the
+right bank of the river, and compelled the Alemanni and other powerful
+German tribes to make their submission to the majesty of Rome.
+Personally brave, by temperament restless, and inspired with an ardent
+desire to rival or eclipse the glorious deeds of those heroes of former
+times who had made themselves a name in history, he viewed the disturbed
+condition of the East at the time of his accession not as a trouble, not
+as a drawback upon the delights of empire, but as a happy circumstance,
+a fortunate opportunity for distinguishing himself by some great
+achievement. Of all the Greeks, Alexander appeared to him the most
+illustrious; of all his predecessors on the imperial throne, Trajan and
+Marcus Aurelius were those whom he most wished to emulate. But all these
+princes had either led or sent expeditions into the far East, and had
+aimed at uniting in one the fairest provinces of Europe and Asia.
+Julian appears, from the first moment that he found himself peaceably
+established upon the throne, to have resolved on undertaking in person a
+great expedition against Sapor, with the object of avenging upon Persia
+the ravages and defeats of the last sixty years, or at any rate of
+obtaining such successes as might justify his assuming the title
+of "Persicus." Whether he really entertained any hope of rivalling
+Alexander, or supposed it possible that he should effect "the final
+conquest of Persia," may be doubted. Acquainted, as he must have been,
+with the entire course of Roman warfare in these parts from the attack
+of Crassus to the last defeat of his own immediate predecessor, he can
+scarcely have regarded the subjugation of Persia as an easy matter, or
+have expected to do much more than strike terror into the "barbarians"
+of the East, or perhaps obtain from them the cession of another
+province. The sensible officer, who, after accompanying him in his
+expedition, wrote the history of the campaign, regarded his actuating
+motives as the delight that he took in war, and the desire of a new
+title. Confident in his own military talent, in his training, and in
+his power to inspire enthusiasm in an army, he no doubt looked to reap
+laurels sufficient to justify him in making his attack; but the wild
+schemes ascribed to him, the conquest of the Sassanian kingdom, and
+the subjugation of Hyrcania and India, are figments (probably) of the
+imagination of his historians.
+
+Julian entered Constantinople on the 11th of December, A.D. 361; he
+quitted it towards the end of May,12 A.D. 362, after residing there
+less than six months. During this period, notwithstanding the various
+important matters in which he was engaged, the purifying of the court,
+the depression of the Christians, the restoration and revivification
+of Paganism, he found time to form plans and make preparations for his
+intended eastern expedition, in which he was anxious to engage as soon
+as possible. Having designated for the war such troops as could be
+spared from the West, he committed them and their officers to the charge
+of two generals, carefully chosen, Victor, a Roman of distinction, and
+the Persian refugee, Prince Hormisdas, who conducted the legions without
+difficulty to Antioch. There Julian himself arrived in June or July 14
+after having made a stately progress through Asia Minor; and it would
+seem that he would at once have marched against the enemy, had not his
+counsellors strongly urged the necessity of a short delay, during which
+the European troops might be rested, and adequate preparations made for
+the intended invasion. It was especially necessary to provide stores and
+ships, since the new emperor had resolved not to content himself with an
+ordinary campaign upon the frontier, but rather to imitate the examples
+of Trajan and Severus, who had carried the Roman eagles to the extreme
+south of Mesopotamia. Ships, accordingly, were collected, and probably
+built during the winter of A.D. 362-3; provisions were laid in; warlike
+stores, military engines, and the like accumulated; while the impatient
+monarch, galled by the wit and raillery of the gay Antiochenes, chafed
+at his compelled inaction, and longed to exchange the war of words in
+which he was engaged with his subjects for the ruder contests of arms
+wherewith use had made him more familiar.
+
+It must have been during the emperor's stay at Antioch that he
+received an embassy from the court of Persia, commissioned to sound his
+inclinations with regard to the conclusion of a peace. Sapor had
+seen, with some disquiet, the sceptre of the Roman world assumed by an
+enterprising and courageous youth, inured to warfare and ambitious of
+military glory. He was probably very well informed as to the general
+condition of the Roman State and the personal character of its
+administrator; and the tidings which he received concerning the
+intentions and preparations, of the new prince were such as caused him
+some apprehension, if not actual alarm. Under these circumstance she
+sent an embassy with overtures, the exact nature of which is not known,
+but which, it is probable, took for their basis the existing territorial
+limits of the two countries. At least, we hear of no offer of surrender
+or submission on Sapor's part; and we can scarcely suppose that, had
+such offers been made, the Roman writers would have passed them over in
+silence. It is not surprising that Julian lent no favorable ear to the
+envoys, if these were their instructions; but it would have been better
+for his reputation had he replied to them with less of haughtiness and
+rudeness. According to one authority, he tore up before their faces
+the autograph letter of their master; while, according to another, he
+responded, with a contemptuous smile, that "there was no occasion for
+an exchange of thought between him and the Persian king by messengers,
+since he intended very shortly to treat with him in person." Having
+received this rebuff, the envoys of Sapor took their departure, and
+conveyed to their sovereign the intelligence that he must prepare
+himself to resist a serious invasion.
+
+About the same time various offers of assistance reached the Roman
+emperor from the independent or semi-independent princes and chieftains
+of the regions adjacent to Mesopotamia. Such overtures were sure to
+be made by the heads of the plundering desert tribes to any powerful
+invader, since it would be hoped that a share in the booty might be
+obtained without much participation in the danger. We are told that
+Julian promptly rejected these offers, grandly saying that it was for
+Rome rather to give aid to her allies than to receive assistance from
+them. It appears, however, that at least two exceptions were made to the
+general principle thus magniloquently asserted. Julian had taken into
+his service, ere he quitted Europe, a strong body of Gothic auxiliaries;
+and, while at Antioch, he sent to the Saracens, reminding them of their
+promise to lend him troops, and calling upon them to fulfil it. If
+the advance on Persia was to be made by the line of the Euphrates,
+an alliance with these agile sons of the desert was of first-rate
+importance, since the assistance which they could render as friends was
+considerable, and the injury which they could inflict as enemies was
+almost beyond calculation. It is among the faults of Julian in this
+campaign that he did not set more store by the Saracen alliance, and
+make greater efforts to maintain it; we shall find that after a while
+he allowed the brave nomads to become disaffected, and to exchange their
+friendship with him for hostility. Had he taken more care to attach them
+cordially to the side of Rome, it is quite possible that his expedition
+might have had a prosperous issue.
+
+There was another ally, whose services Julian regarded himself as
+entitled not to request, but to command. Arsaces, king of Armenia,
+though placed on his throne by Sapor, had (as we have seen) transferred
+his allegiance to Constantius, and voluntarily taken up the position of
+a Roman feudatory. Constantius had of late suspected his fidelity; but
+Arsaces had not as yet, by any overt act, justified these suspicions,
+and Julian seems to have regarded him as an assured friend and ally.
+Early in A.D. 363 he addressed a letter to the Armenian monarch,
+requiring him to levy a considerable force, and hold himself in
+readiness to execute such orders as he would receive within a short
+time. The style, address, and purport of this letter were equally
+distasteful to Arsaces, whose pride was outraged, and whose indolence
+was disturbed, by the call thus suddenly made upon him. His own desire
+was probably to remain neutral; he felt no interest in the standing
+quarrel between his two powerful neighbors; he was under obligations
+to both of them; and it was for his advantage that they should remain
+evenly balanced. We cannot ascribe to him any earnest religious feeling;
+but, as one who kept up the profession of Christianity, he could not but
+regard with aversion the Apostate, who had given no obscure intimation
+of his intention to use his power to the utmost in order to sweep the
+Christian religion from the face of the earth. The disinclination of
+their monarch to observe the designs of Julian was shared, or rather
+surpassed, by his people, the more educated portion of whom were
+strongly attached to the new faith and worship. If the great historian
+of Armenia is right in stating that Julian at this time offered an
+open insult to the Armenian religion, we must pronounce him strangely
+imprudent. The alliance of Armenia was always of the utmost importance
+to Rome in any attack upon the East. Julian seems to have gone out of
+his way to create offence in this quarter, where his interests required
+that he should exercise all his powers of conciliation.
+
+The forces which the emperor regarded as at his disposal, and with
+which he expected to take the field, were the following. His own troops
+amounted to 83,000 or (according to another account) to 95,000 men. They
+consisted chiefly of Roman legionaries, horse and foot, but included
+a strong body of Gothic auxiliaries. Armenia was expected to furnish
+a considerable force, probably not less than 20,000 men; and the light
+horse of the Saracens would, it was thought, be tolerably numerous.
+Altogether, an army of above a hundred thousand men was about to be
+launched on the devoted Persia, which was believed unlikely to offer any
+effectual, if even any serious, resistance.
+
+The impatience of Julian scarcely allowed him to await the conclusion of
+the winter. With the first breath of spring he put his forces in motion,
+and, quitting Antioch, marched with all speed to the Euphrates. Passing
+Litarbi, and then Hiapolis, he crossed the river by a bridge of boats in
+the vicinity that place, and proceeded by Batnee to the important city
+of Carrhae, once the home of Abraham. Here he halted for a few days and
+finally fixed his plans. It was by this time well known to the Romans
+that there were two, and two only, convenient roads whereby Southern
+Mesopotamia was to be reached, one along the line of the Mons Masius to
+the Tigris, and then along the banks of that stream, the other down the
+valley of the Euphrates to the great alluvial plain on the lower course
+of the rivers. Julian had, perhaps, hitherto doubted which line he
+should follow in person. The first had been preferred by Alexander and
+by Trajan, the second by the younger Cyrus, by Avidius Cassius, and by
+Severus. Both lines were fairly practicable; but that of the Tigris
+was circuitous, and its free employment was only possible under the
+condition of Armenia being certainly friendly. If Julian had cause to
+suspect, as it is probable that he had, the fidelity oL the Armenians,
+he may have felt that there was one line only which he could with
+prudence pursue. He might send a subsidiary force by the doubtful route
+which could advance to his aid if matters went favorably, or remain on
+the defensive if they assumed a threatening aspect; but his own
+grand attack must be by the other. Accordingly he divided his forces.
+Committing a body of troops, which is variously estimated at from 18,000
+to 30,000, into the hands of Procopius, a connection of his own, and
+Sebastian, Duke of Egypt, with orders that they should proceed by way of
+the Mons Masius to Armenia, and, uniting themselves with the forces
+of Arsaces, invade Northern Media, ravage it, and then join him before
+Ctesiphon by the line of the Tigris, he reserved for himself and for
+his main army the shorter and more open route down the valley of the
+Euphrates. Leaving Carrhae on the 26th of March, after about a week's
+stay, he marched southward, at the head of 65,000 men, by Davana and
+along the course of the Belik, to Callinicus or Nicophorium, near the
+junction of the Belik with the Euphrates. Here the Saracen chiefs came
+and made their submission, and were graciously received by the emperor,
+to whom they presented a crown of gold. At the same time the fleet made
+its appearance, numbering at least 1100 vessels, of which fifty were
+ships of war, fifty prepared to serve as pontoons, and the remaining
+thousand, transports laden with provisions, weapons, and military
+engines.
+
+From Callinicus the emperor marched along the course of the Euphrates
+to Circusium, or Circesium, at the junction of the Khabour with the
+Euphrates, arriving at this place early in April. Thus far he had been
+marching through his own dominions, and had had no hostility to dread.
+Being now about to enter the enemy's country, he made arrangements for
+the march which seem to have been extremely judicious. The cavalry was
+placed under the command of Arinthseus and Prince Hormisdas, and was
+stationed at the extreme left, with orders to advance on a line parallel
+with the general course of the river. Some picked legions under the
+command of Nevitta formed the right wing, and, resting on the Euphrates,
+maintained communication with the fleet. Julian, with the main part of
+his troops, occupied the space intermediate between these two extremes,
+marching in a loose column which from front to rear covered a distance
+of above nine miles. A flying corps of fifteen hundred men acted as an
+avant-guard under Count Lucilianus, and explored the country in advance,
+feeling on all sides for the enemy. The rear was covered by a detachment
+under Secundinus, Duke of Osrhoene, Dagalaiphus, and Victor.
+
+Having made his dispositions, and crossed the broad stream of the
+Khabour, on the 7th of April, by a bridge of boats, which he immediately
+broke up, Julian continued his advance along the course of the
+Euphrates, supported by his fleet, which was not allowed either to
+outstrip or to lag behind the army. The first halt was at Zaitha, famous
+as the scene of the murder of Gordian, whose tomb was in its vicinity.
+Here Julian encouraged his soldiers by an eloquent speech, in which he
+recounted the past successes of the Roman arms, and promised them an
+easy victory over their present adversary. He then, in a two days'
+march, reached Dura, a ruined city, destitute of inhabitants, on the
+banks of the river; from which a march of four days more brought him
+to Anathan, the modern Anah, a strong fortress on an island in the
+mid-stream, which was held by a Persian garrison. An attempt to surprise
+the place by a night attack having failed, Julian had recourse to
+persuasion, and by the representations of Prince Hormisdas induced its
+defenders to surrender the fort and place themselves at his mercy.
+It was, perhaps, to gall the Antiochenes with an indication of his
+victorious progress that he sent his prisoners under escort into Syria,
+and settled them in the territory of Chalcis, at no great distance
+from the city of his aversion. Unwilling further to weaken his army by
+detaching a garrison to hold his conquest, he committed Anathan to the
+flames before proceeding further down the river.
+
+About eight miles below Anathan, another island and another fortress
+were held by the enemy. Thilutha is described as stronger than Anathan,
+and indeed as almost impregnable. Julian felt that he could not attack
+it with any hope of success, and therefore once more submitted to use
+persuasion. But the garrison, feeling themselves secure, rejected his
+overtures; they would wait, they said, and see which party was superior
+in the approaching conflict, and would then attach themselves to
+the victors. Meanwhile, if unmolested by the invader, they would not
+interfere with his advance, but would maintain a neutral attitude.
+Julian had to determine whether he would act in the spirit of an
+Alexander, and, rejecting with disdain all compromise, compel by force
+of arms an entire submission, or whether he would take lower ground,
+accept the offer made to him, and be content to leave in his rear a
+certain number of unconquered fortresses. He decided that prudence
+required him to take the latter course, and left Thilutha unassailed.
+It is not surprising that, having admitted the assumption of a neutral
+position by one town, he was forced to extend the permission to others,
+and so to allow the Euphrates route to remain, practically, in the hands
+of the Persians.
+
+A. five days' march from Thilutha brought the army to a point opposite
+Diacira, or Hit, a town of ancient repute, and one which happened to be
+well provided with stores and provisions. Though the place lay on the
+right bank of the river, it was still exposed to attack, as the fleet
+could convey any number of troops from one shore to the other. Being
+considered untenable, it was deserted by the male inhabitants, who,
+however, left some of their women behind them. We obtain an unpleasant
+idea of the state of discipline which the philosophic emperor allowed
+to prevail, when we find that his soldiers, "without remorse and without
+punishment, massacred these defenceless persons." The historian of the
+war records this act without any appearance of shame, as if it were
+a usual occurrence, and no more important than the burning of the
+plundered city which followed.
+
+From Hit the army pursued its march, through Sitha and Megia, to
+Zaragardia or Ozogardana, where the memory of Trajan's expedition still
+lingered, a certain pedestal or pulpit of stone being known to the
+natives as "Trajan's tribunal." Up to this time nothing had been seen or
+heard of any Persian opposing army; one man only on the Roman side, so
+far as we hear, had been killed. No systematic method of checking the
+advance had been adopted; the corn was everywhere found standing;
+forage was plentiful; and there were magazines of grain in the towns. No
+difficulties had delayed the invaders but such as Nature had interposed
+to thwart them, as when a violent storm on one occasion shattered the
+tents, and on another a sudden swell of the Euphrates wrecked some of
+the corn transports, and interrupted the right wing's line of march.
+But this pleasant condition of things was not to continue. At Hit the
+rolling Assyrian plain had come to an end, and the invading army had
+entered upon the low alluvium of Babylonia, a region of great fertility,
+intersected by numerous canals, which in some places were carried the
+entire distance from the one river to the other. The change in the
+character of the country encouraged the Persians to make a change in
+their tactics. Hitherto they had been absolutely passive; now at last
+they showed themselves, and commenced the active system of perpetual
+harassing warfare in which they were adepts. A surena, or general of
+the first rank, appeared in the field, at the head of a strong body of
+Persian horse, and accompanied by a sheikh of the Saracenic Arabs,
+known as Malik (or "King") Rodoseces. Retreating as Julian advanced, but
+continually delaying his progress, hanging on the skirts of his
+army, cutting off his stragglers, and threatening every unsupported
+detachment, this active force changed all the conditions of the march,
+rendering it slow and painful, and sometimes stopping it altogether. We
+are told that on one occasion Prince Hormisdas narrowly escaped falling
+into the surena's hands. On another, the Persian force, having allowed
+the Roman vanguard to proceed unmolested, suddenly showed itself on the
+southern bank of one of the great canals connecting the Euphrates
+with the Tigris, and forbade the passage of Julian's main army. It was
+only after a day and a night's delay that the emperor, by detaching
+troops under Victor to make a long circuit, cross the canal far to the
+east, recall Lucilianus with the vanguard, and then attack the surena's
+troops in the rear, was able to overcome the resistance in his front,
+and carry his army across the cutting.
+
+Having in this way effected the passage, Julian continued his march
+along the Euphrates, and in a short time came to the city of Perisabor
+(Mruz Shapur), the most important that he had yet reached, and reckoned
+not much inferior to Otesiphon. As the inhabitants steadily refused all
+accommodation, and insulted Hormisdas, who was sent to treat with
+them, by the reproach that he was a deserter and a traitor, the emperor
+determined to form the siege of the place and see if he could not
+compel it to a surrender. Situated between the Euphrates and one of the
+numerous canals derived from it, and further protected by a trench drawn
+across from the canal to the river, Perisabor occupied a sort of island,
+while at the same time it was completely surrounded with a double wall.
+The citadel, which lay towards the north, and overhung the Euphrates,
+was especially strong; and the garrison was brave, numerous, and full
+of confidence. The walls, however, composed in part of brick laid in
+bitumen, were not of much strength; and the Roman soldiers found little
+difficulty in shattering with the ram one of the corner towers, and so
+making an entrance into the place. But the real struggle now began.
+The brave defenders retreated into the citadel, which was of imposing
+height, and from this vantage-ground galled the Romans in the town with
+an incessant shower of arrows, darts, and stones. The ordinary catapults
+and balistae of the Romans were no match for such a storm descending
+from such a height; and it was plainly necessary, if the place was to be
+taken, to have recourse to some other device. Julian, therefore, who was
+never sparing of his own person, took the resolution, on the second day
+of the siege, of attempting to burst open one of the gates. Accompanied
+by a small band, who formed a roof over his head with their shields,
+and by a few sappers with their tools, he approached the gate-tower, and
+made his men commence their operations. The doors, however, were found
+to be protected with iron, and the fastenings to be so strong that
+no immediate impression could be made; while the alarmed garrison,
+concentrating its attention on the threatened spot, kept up a furious
+discharge of missiles on their daring assailants. Prudence counselled
+retreat from the dangerous position which had been taken up; and the
+emperor, though he felt acutely the shame of having failed, retired.
+But his mind, fertile in resource, soon formed a new plan. He remembered
+that Demetrius Poliorcetes had acquired his surname by the invention and
+use of the "Helepolis," a movable tower of vast height, which placed the
+assailants on a level with the defenders even of the loftiest ramparts.
+He at once ordered the construction of such a machine; and, the ability
+of his engineers being equal to the task, it rapidly grew before his
+eyes. The garrison saw its growth with feelings very opposite to
+those of their assailant; they felt that they could not resist the new
+creation, and anticipated its employment by a surrender, Julian agreed
+to spare their lives, and allowed them to withdraw and join their
+countrymen, each man taking with him a spare garment and a certain
+sum of money. The other stores contained within the walls fell to the
+conquerors, who found them to comprise a vast quantity of corn, arms,
+and other valuables. Julian distributed among his troops whatever was
+likely to be serviceable; the remainder, of which he could make no use,
+was either burned or thrown into the Euphrates.
+
+The latitude of Ctesiphon was now nearly reached, but Julian still
+continued to descend the Euphrates, while the Persian cavalry made
+occasional dashes upon his extended line, and sometimes caused him a
+sensible loss. At length he came to the point where the Nahr-Malcha, or
+"Royal river," the chief of the canals connecting the Euphrates with the
+Tigris, branched off from the more western stream, and ran nearly due
+east to the vicinity of the capital. The canal was navigable by his
+ships, and he therefore at this point quitted the Euphrates, and
+directed his march eastward along the course of the cutting, following
+in the footsteps of Severus, and no doubt expecting, like him, to
+capture easily the great metropolitan city. But his advance across the
+neck of land which here separates the Tigris from the Euphrates was
+painful and difficult, since the enemy laid the country under water, and
+at every favorable point disputed his progress. Julian, however, still
+pressed forward, and advanced, though slowly. By felling the palms which
+grew abundantly in this region, and forming with them rafts supported
+by inflated skins, he was able to pass the inundated district, and to
+approach within about eleven miles of Ctesiphon. Here his further march
+was obstructed by a fortress, built (as it would seem) to defend the
+capital, and fortified with especial care. Ammianus calls this place
+Maoga-malcha, while Zosimus gives it the name of Besuchis; but both
+agree that it was a large town, commanded by a strong citadel, and held
+by a brave and numerous garrison. Julian might perhaps have left it
+unassailed, as he had left already several towns upon his line of march;
+but a daring attempt made against himself by a portion of the garrison
+caused him to feel his honor concerned in taking the place; and the
+result was that he once more arrested his steps, and, sitting down
+before the walls, commenced a formal siege. All the usual arts of attack
+and defence were employed on either side for several days, the chief
+novel feature in the warfare being the use by the besieged of blazing
+balls of bitumen, which they shot from their lofty towers against the
+besiegers' works and persons. Julian, however, met this novelty by a
+device on his side which was uncommon; he continued openly to assault
+the walls and gates with his battering rams, but he secretly gave orders
+that the chief efforts of his men should be directed to the formation of
+a mine, which should be carried under both the walls that defended the
+place, and enable him to introduce suddenly a body of troops into the
+very heart of the city. His orders were successfully executed; and
+while a general attack upon the defences occupied the attention of
+the besieged, three corps introduced through the mine suddenly showed
+themselves in the town itself, and rendered further resistance hopeless.
+Maogamalcha, which a little before had boasted of being impregnable,
+and had laughed to scorn the vain efforts of the emperor, suddenly
+found itself taken by assault and undergoing the extremities of sack and
+pillage. Julian made no efforts to prevent a general massacre, and the
+entire population, without distinction of age or sex, seems to have been
+put to the sword. The commandant of the fortress, though he was at
+first spared, suffered death shortly after on a frivolous charge. Even a
+miserable remnant, which had concealed itself in caves and cellars, was
+hunted out, smoke and fire being used to force the fugitives from their
+hiding-places, or else cause them to perish in the darksome dens by
+suffocation. Thus there was no extremity of savage warfare which was
+not used, the fourth century anticipating some of the horrors which have
+most disgraced the nineteenth.
+
+Nothing now but the river Tigris intervened between Julian and the
+great city of Ctesiphon, which was plainly the special object of the
+expedition. Ctesiphon, indeed, was not to Persia what it had been
+to Parthia; but still it might fairly be looked upon as a prize of
+considerable importance. Of Parthia it had been the main, in later times
+perhaps the sole, capital; to Persia it was a secondary rather than
+a primary city, the ordinary residence of the court being Istakr, or
+Persepolis. Still the Persian kings seem occasionally to have resided at
+Ctesiphon; and among the secondary cities of the empire it undoubtedly
+held a high rank. In the neighborhood were various royal hunting-seats,
+surrounded by shady gardens, and adorned with paintings or bas-reliefs;
+while near them were parks or "paradises," containing the game kept
+for the prince's sport, which included lions, wild boars, and bears of
+remarkable fierceness. As Julian advanced, these pleasaunces fell,
+one after another, into his hands, and were delivered over to the rude
+soldiery, who trampled the flowers and shrubs under foot, destroyed the
+wild beasts, and burned the residences. No serious resistance was as
+yet made by any Persian force to the progress of the Romans, who
+pressed steadily forward, occasionally losing a few men or a few baggage
+animals, but drawing daily nearer to the great city, and on their way
+spreading ruin and desolation over a most fertile district, from which
+they drew abundant supplies as they passed through it, while they left
+it behind them blackened, wasted, and almost without inhabitant. The
+Persians seem to have had orders not to make, as yet, any firm stand.
+One of the sons of Sapor was now at their head, but no change of tactics
+occurred. As Julian drew near, this prince indeed quitted the shelter of
+Ctesiphon, and made a reconnaissance in force; but when he fell in with
+the Roman advanced guard under Victor, and saw its strength, he declined
+an engagement, and retired without coming to blows.
+
+Julian had now reached the western suburb of Ctesiphon, which had lost
+its old name of Seleucia and was known as Coche. The capture of this
+place would, perhaps, not have been difficult; but, as the broad and
+deep stream of the Tigris flowed between it and the main town, little
+would have been gained by the occupation. Julian felt that, to attack
+Ctesiphon with success, he must, like Trajan and Severus, transport his
+army to the left bank of the Tigris, and deliver his assault upon the
+defences that lay beyond that river. For the safe transport of his army
+he trusted to his fleet, which he had therefore caused to enter the
+Nahr-Malcha, and to accompany his troops thus far. But at Coche he found
+that the Nahr-Malcha, instead of joining the Tigris, as he had expected,
+above Ctesiphon, ran into it at some distance below. To have pursued
+this line with both fleet and army would have carried him too far into
+the enemy's country, have endangered his communications, and especially
+have cut him off from the Armenian army under Procopius and Sebastian,
+with which he was at this time looking to effect a junction. To have
+sent the fleet into the Tigris below Coche, while the army occupied
+the right bank of the river above it, would, in the first place, have
+separated the two, and would further have been useless, unless the fleet
+could force its way against the strong current through the whole length
+of the hostile city. In this difficulty Julian's book-knowledge
+was found of service. He had studied with care the campaigns of his
+predecessors in these regions, and recollected that one of them at any
+rate had made a cutting from the Nahr-Malcha, by which he had brought
+his fleet into the Tigris above Ctesiphon. If this work could be
+discovered, it might, he thought, in all probability be restored. Some
+of the country people were therefore seized, and, inquiry being made
+of them, the line of the canal was pointed out, and the place shown at
+which it had been derived from the Nahr-Malcha. Here the Persians had
+erected a strong dam, with sluices, by means of which a portion of the
+water could occasionally be turned into the Roman cutting. Julian had
+the cutting cleared out, and the dam torn down; whereupon the main
+portion of the stream rushed at once into the old channel, which rapidly
+filled, and was found to be navigable by the Roman vessels. The fleet
+was thus brought into the Tigris above Coche; and the army advancing
+with it encamped upon the right bank of the river.
+
+The Persians now for the first time appeared in force. As Julian drew
+near the great stream, he perceived that his passage of it would not be
+unopposed. Along the left bank, which was at this point naturally higher
+than the right, and which was further crowned by a wall built originally
+to fence in one of the royal parks, could be seen the dense masses
+of the enemy's-horse and foot, stretching away to right and left, the
+former encased in glittering armor, the latter protected by huge
+wattled shields. Behind these troops were discernible the vast forms
+of elephants, looking (says the historian) like moving mountains, and
+regarded by the legionaries with extreme dread. Julian felt that he
+could not ask his army to cross the stream openly in the face of a foe
+thus advantageously posted. He therefore waited the approach of night.
+When darkness had closed in, he made his dispositions; divided his
+fleet into portions; embarked a number of his troops; and, despite
+the dissuasions of his officers, gave the signal for the passage to
+commence. Five ships, each of them conveying eighty soldiers, led the
+way, and reached the opposite shore without accident. Here, however,
+the enemy received them with a sharp fire of burning darts, and the two
+foremost were soon in flames. At the ominous sight the rest of the fleet
+wavered, and might have refused to proceed further, had not Julian, with
+admirable presence of mind, exclaimed aloud--"Our men have crossed and
+are masters of the bank--that fire is the signal which I bade them make
+if they were victorious." Thus encouraged, the crews plied their oars
+with vigor, and impelled the remaining vessels rapidly across the
+stream. At the same time, some of the soldiers who had not been put on
+board, impatient to assist their comrades, plunged into the stream, and
+swam across supported by their shields. Though a stout resistance
+was offered by the Persians, it was found impossible to withstand the
+impetuosity of the Roman attack. Not only were the half-burned vessels
+saved, the flames extinguished, and the men on board rescued from their
+perilous position, but everywhere the Roman troops made good their
+landing, fought their way up the bank against a storm of missile
+weapons, and drew up in good order upon its summit. A pause probably now
+occurred, as the armies could not see each other in the darkness; but,
+at dawn of day, Julian, having made a fresh arrangement of his troops,
+led them against the dense array of the enemy, and engaged in a
+hand-to-hand combat, which lasted from morning to midday, when it was
+terminated by the flight of the Persians. Their leaders, Tigranes,
+Narseus, and the Surena, are said to have been the first to quit the
+field and take refuge within the defences of Ctesiphon. The example thus
+set was universally followed; and the entire Persian army, abandoning
+its camp and baggage, rushed in the wildest confusion across the plain
+to the nearest of the city gates, closely pursued by its active foe up
+to the very foot of the walls. The Roman writers assert that Ctesiphon
+might have been entered and taken, had not the general, Victor, who was
+wounded by a dart from a catapult, recalled his men as they were about
+to rush in through the open gateway. It is perhaps doubtful whether
+success would really have crowned such audacity. At any rate the
+opportunity passed--the runaways entered the town--the gate closed upon
+them; and Ctesiphon was safe unless it were reduced by the operations of
+a regular siege.
+
+But the fruits of the victory were still considerable. The entire
+Persian army collected hitherto for the defence of Ctesiphon had been
+defeated by one-third of the Roman force under Julian. The vanquished
+had left 2,500 men dead upon the field, while the victors had lost no
+more than seventy-five. A rich spoil had fallen into the hands of the
+Romans, who found in the abandoned camp couches and tables of massive
+silver, and on the bodies of the slain, both men and horses, a profusion
+of gold and silver ornaments, besides trappings and apparel of great
+magnificence. A welcome supply of provisions was also furnished by the
+lands and houses in the neighborhood of Ctesiphon; and the troops passed
+from a state of privation to one of extreme abundance, so that it was
+feared lest they might suffer from excess.
+
+Affairs had now reached a point when it was necessary to form a definite
+resolution as to what should be the further aim and course of the
+expedition. Hitherto all had indicated an intention on the part of
+Julian to occupy Ctesiphon, and thence dictate a peace. His long march,
+his toilsome canal-cutting, his orders to his second army, his crossing
+of the Tigris, his engagement with the Persians in the plain before
+Ctesiphon, were the natural steps conducting to such a result, and are
+explicable on one hypothesis and one hypothesis only. He must up to this
+time have designed to make himself master of the great city, which
+had been the goal of so many previous invasions, and had always fallen
+whenever Rome attacked it. But, having overcome all the obstacles in his
+path, and having it in his power at once to commence the siege, a sudden
+doubt appears to have assailed him as to the practicability of the
+undertaking. It can scarcely be supposed that the city was really
+stronger now than it had been under the Parthians; much less can it be
+argued that Julian's army was insufficient for the investment of such a
+place. It was probably the most powerful army with which the Romans had
+as yet invaded Southern Mesopotamia; and it was amply provided with
+all the appurtenances of war. If Julian did not venture to attempt what
+Trajan and Avidius Cassius and Septimius Severus had achieved without
+difficulty, it must have been because the circumstances under which he
+would have had to make the attack were different from those under which
+they had ventured and succeeded. And the difference--a most momentous
+one--was this. They besieged and captured the place after defeating the
+greatest force that Parthia could bring into the field against them.
+Julian found himself in front of Ctesiphon before he had crossed swords
+with the Persian king, or so much as set eyes on the grand army which
+Sapor was known to have collected. To have sat down before Ctesiphon
+under such circumstances would have been to expose himself to great
+peril; while he was intent upon the siege, he might at any time have
+been attacked by a relieving army under the Great King, have been placed
+between two fires, and compelled to engage at extreme disadvantage. It
+was a consideration of this danger that impelled the council of war,
+whereto he submitted the question, to pronounce the siege of Ctesiphon
+too hazardous an operation, and to dissuade the emperor from attempting
+it.
+
+But, if the city were not to be besieged, what course could with any
+prudence be adopted? It would have been madness to leave Ctesiphon
+unassailed, and to press forward against Susa and Persepolis. It would
+have been futile to remain encamped before the walls without commencing
+a siege. The heats of summer had arrived, and the malaria of autumn was
+not far off. The stores brought by the fleet were exhausted; and there
+was a great risk in the army's depending wholly for its subsistence on
+the supplies that it might be able to obtain from the enemy's country.
+Julian and his advisers must have seen at a glance that if the Romans
+were not to attack Ctesiphon, they must retreat. And accordingly retreat
+seems to have been at once determined on. As a first step, the whole
+fleet, except some dozen vessels, was burned, since twelve was a
+sufficient number to serve as pontoons, and it was not worth the army's
+while to encumber itself with the remainder. They could only have been
+tracked up the strong stream of the Tigris by devoting to the work some
+20,000 men; thus greatly weakening the strength of the armed force, and
+at the same time hampering its movements. Julian, in sacrificing his
+ships, suffered simply a pecuniary loss--they could not possibly have
+been of any further service to him in the campaign.
+
+Retreat being resolved upon, it only remained to determine what route
+should be followed, and on what portion of the Roman territory the
+march should be directed. The soldiers clamored for a return by the
+way whereby they had come; but many valid objections to this course
+presented themselves to their commanders. The country along the line of
+the Euphrates had been exhausted of its stores by the troops in their
+advance; the forage had been consumed, the towns and villages desolated.
+There would be neither food nor shelter for the men along this route;
+the season was also unsuitable for it, since the Euphrates was in full
+flood, and the moist atmosphere would be sure to breed swarms of flies
+and mosquitoes. Julian saw that by far the best line of retreat was
+along the Tigris, which had higher banks than the Euphrates, which
+was no longer in flood, and which ran through a tract that was highly
+productive and that had for many years not been visited by an enemy. The
+army, therefore, was ordered to commence its retreat through the country
+lying on the left bank of the Tigris, and to spread itself over the
+fertile region, in the hope of obtaining ample supplies. The march was
+understood to be directed on Cordyene (Kurdistan), a province now in
+the possession of Rome, a rich tract, and not more than about 250 miles
+distant from Ctesiphon.
+
+Before, however, the retreat commenced, while Julian and his victorious
+army were still encamped in sight of Ctesiphon, the Persian king,
+according to some writers, sent an embassy proposing terms of
+peace. Julian's successes are represented as having driven Sapor to
+despair--"the pride of his royalty was humbled in the dust; he took
+his repasts on the ground; and the grief and anxiety of his mind were
+expressed by the disorder of his hair." He would, it is suggested, have
+been willing "to purchase, with one half of his kingdom, the safety of
+the remainder, and would have gladly subscribed himself, in a treaty of
+peace, the faithful and dependent ally of the Roman conqueror." Such are
+the pleasing fictions wherewith the rhetorician of Antioch, faithful to
+the memory of his friend and master, consoled himself and his readers
+after Julian's death. It is difficult to decide whether there underlies
+them any substratum of truth. Neither Ammianus nor Zosimus makes the
+slightest allusion to any negotiations at all at this period; and it is
+thus open to doubt whether the entire story told by Libanius is not the
+product of his imagination. But at any rate it is quite impossible that
+the Persian king can have made any abject offers of submission, or
+have been in a state of mind at all akin to despair. His great army,
+collected from all quarters, was intact; he had not yet condescended
+to take the field in person; he had lost no important town, and his
+adversary had tacitly confessed his inability to form the siege of a
+city which was far from being the greatest in the empire. If Sapor,
+therefore, really made at this time overtures of peace, it must have
+been either with the intention of amusing Julian, and increasing
+his difficulties by delaying his retreat, or because he thought that
+Julian's consciousness of his difficulties would induce him to offer
+terms which he might accept.
+
+The retreat commenced on June 16. Scarcely were the troops set in
+motion, when an ominous cloud of dust appeared on the southern horizon,
+which grew larger as the day advanced; and, though some suggested that
+the appearance was produced by a herd of wild asses, and others ventured
+the conjecture that it was caused by the approach of a body of
+Julian's Saracenic allies, the emperor himself was not deceived, but,
+understanding that the Persians had set out in pursuit, he called in
+his stragglers, massed his troops, and pitched his camp in a strong
+position. Day-dawn showed that he had judged aright, for the earliest
+rays of the sun were reflected from the polished breastplates and
+cuirasses of the Persians, who had drawn up at no great distance during
+the night. A combat followed in which the Persian and Saracenic horse
+attacked the Romans vigorously, and especially threatened the baggage,
+but were repulsed by the firmness and valor of the Roman foot. Julian
+was able to continue his retreat after a while, but found himself
+surrounded by enemies, some of whom, keeping in advance of his troops,
+or hanging upon his flanks, destroyed the corn and forage that his
+men so much needed; while others, pressing upon his rear, retarded his
+march, and caused him from time to time no inconsiderable losses. The
+retreat under these circumstances was slow; the army had to be rested
+and recruited when it fell in with any accumulation of provisions; and
+the average progress made seems to have been not much more than ten
+miles a day. This tardy advance allowed the more slow-moving portion of
+the Persian army to close in upon the retiring Romans; and Julian soon
+found himself closely followed by dense masses of the enemy's troops, by
+the heavy cavalry clad in steel panoplies, and armed with long spears,
+by large bodies of archers, and even by a powerful corps of elephants.
+This grand army was under the command of a general whom the Roman
+writers call Meranes, and of two sons of Sapor. It pressed heavily
+upon the Roman rearguard; and Julian, after a little while, found it
+necessary to stop his march, confront his pursuers, and offer them
+battle. The offer was accepted, and an engagement took place in a tract
+called Maranga. The enemy advanced in two lines--the first composed
+of the mailed horsemen and the archers intermixed, the second of the
+elephants. Julian prepared his army to receive the attack by disposing
+it in the form of a crescent, with the centre drawn back considerably;
+but as the Persians advanced into the hollow space, he suddenly led his
+troops forward at speed, allowing the archers scarcely time to discharge
+their arrows before he engaged them and the horse in close combat. A
+long and bloody struggle followed; but the Persians were unaccustomed to
+hand-to-hand fighting and disliked it; they gradually gave ground, and
+at last broke up and fled, covering their retreat, however, with the
+clouds of arrows which they knew well how to discharge as they retired.
+The weight of their arms, and the fiery heat of the summer sun,
+prevented the Romans from carrying the pursuit very far. Julian recalled
+them quickly to the protection of the camp, and suspended his march for
+some days while the wounded had their hurts attended to.
+
+The Persian troops, having suffered heavily in the battle, made no
+attempt to storm the Roman camp. They were content to spread themselves
+on all sides, to destroy or carry off all the forage and provisions, and
+to make the country, through which the Roman army must retire, a desert.
+Julian's forces were already suffering severely from scarcity of food,
+and the general want was but very slightly relieved by a distribution
+of the stores set apart for the officers and for the members of the
+imperial household. Under these circumstances it is not surprising
+that Julian's firmness deserted him, and that he began to give way to
+melancholy forebodings, and to see visions and omens which portended
+disaster and death. In the silence of his tent, as he studied a favorite
+philosopher during the dead of night, he thought he saw the Genius of
+the State, with veiled head and cornucopia, stealing away through the
+hangings slowly and sadly. Soon afterwards, when he had just gone forth
+into the open air to perform averting sacrifices, the fall of a shooting
+star seemed to him a direct threat from Mars, with whom he had recently
+quarrelled. The soothsayers were consulted, and counselled abstinence
+from all military movement; but the exigencies of the situation caused
+their advice to be for once contemned. It was only by change of place
+that there was any chance of obtaining supplies of food; and ultimate
+extrication from the perils that surrounded the army depended on a
+steady persistence in retreat.
+
+At dawn of day, therefore, on the memorable 26th of June, A.D. 363, the
+tents were struck, and the Roman army continued its march across the
+wasted plain, having the Tigris at some little distance on its left, and
+some low hills upon its right. The enemy did not anywhere appear; and
+the troops advanced for a time without encountering opposition. But, as
+they drew near the skirts of the hills, not far from Samarah, suddenly
+an attack was made upon them. The rearguard found itself violently
+assailed; and when Julian hastened to its relief, news came that the van
+was also engaged with the enemy, and was already in difficulties. The
+active commander now hurried towards the front, and had accomplished
+half the distance, when the main Persian attack was delivered upon his
+right centre, and to his dismay he found himself entangled amid the
+masses of heavy horse and elephants, which had thrown his columns into
+confusion. The suddenness of the enemy's appearance had prevented him
+from donning his complete armor; and as he fought without a breastplate,
+and with the aid of his light-armed troops restored the day, falling on
+the foe from behind and striking the backs and houghs of the horses and
+elephants, the javelin of a horseman, after grazing the flesh of his
+arm, fixed itself in his right side, penetrating-through the ribs to
+the liver. Julian, grasping the head of the weapon, attempted to draw
+it forth, but in vain--the sharp steel cut his fingers, and the pain and
+loss of blood caused him to fall fainting from his steed. His guards,
+who had closed around him, carefully raised him up, and conveyed him to
+the camp, where the surgeons at once declared the wound mortal. The sad
+news spread rapidly among the soldiery, and nerved them to desperate
+efforts--if they must lose their general, he should, they determined,
+be avenged. Striking their shields with their spears, they everywhere
+rushed upon the enemy with incredible ardor, careless whether they lived
+or died, and only seeking to inflict the greatest possible loss on those
+opposed to them. But the Persians, who had regarded the day as theirs,
+resisted strenuously, and maintained the fight with obstinacy till
+evening closed in and darkness put a stop to the engagement. The losses
+were large on both sides; the Roman right wing had suffered greatly; its
+commander, Anatolius, master of the offices, was among the slain, and
+the prefect Sallust was with difficulty saved by an attendant. The
+Persians, too, lost their generals Meranes and Nohodares; and with them
+no fewer than fifty satraps and great nobles are said to have perished.
+The rank and file no doubt suffered in proportion; and the Romans were
+perhaps justified in claiming that the balance of advantage upon the day
+rested with them. But such advantage as they could reasonably assert was
+far more than counterbalanced by the loss of their commander, who died
+in his tent towards midnight on the day of the battle. Whatever we
+may think of the general character of Julian, or of the degree of his
+intellectual capacity, there can be no question as to his excellence as
+a soldier, or his ability as a commander in the field. If the
+expedition which he had led into Persia was to some extent rash--if his
+preparations for it had been insufficient, and his conduct of it not
+wholly faultless; if consequently he had brought the army of the East
+into a situation of great peril and difficulty--yet candor requires us
+to acknowledge that of all the men collected in the Roman camp he was
+the fittest to have extricated the army from its embarrassments, and
+have conducted it, without serious disaster or loss of honor, into a
+position of safety. No one, like Julian, possessed the confidence of
+the troops; no one so combined experience in command with the personal
+activity and vigor that was needed under the circumstances. When the
+leaders met to consult about the appointment of a successor to the dead
+prince, it was at once apparent how irreparable was their loss. The
+prefect Sallust, whose superior rank and length of service pointed him
+out for promotion to the vacant post, excused himself on account of
+his age and infirmities. The generals of the second grade--Arinthseus,
+Victor, Nevitta, Dagalaiphus--had each their party among the soldiers,
+but were unacceptable to the army generally. None could claim any
+superior merit which might clearly place him above the rest; and a
+discord that might have led to open strife seemed impending, when a
+casual voice pronounced the name of Jovian, and, some applause following
+the suggestion, the rival generals acquiesced in the choice; and this
+hitherto insignificant officer was suddenly invested with the purple and
+saluted as "Augustus" and "Emperor." Had there been any one really fit
+to take the command, such an appointment could not have been made; but,
+in the evident dearth of warlike genius, it was thought best that one
+whose rank was civil rather than military should be preferred, for the
+avoidance of jealousies and contentions. A deserter carried the news to
+Sapor, who was not now very far distant, and described the new emperor
+to him as effeminate and slothful. A fresh impulse was given to the
+pursuit by the intelligence thus conveyed; the army engaged in disputing
+the Roman retreat was reinforced by a strong body of cavalry; and Sapor
+himself pressed forward with all haste, resolved to hurl his main force
+on the rear of the retreating columns.
+
+It was with reluctance that Jovian, on the day of his elevation to the
+supreme power (June 27, A.D. 363), quitted the protection of the
+camp, and proceeded to conduct his army over the open plain, where the
+Persians were now collected in great force, prepared to dispute the
+ground with him inch by inch. Their horse and elephants again fell upon
+the right wing of the Romans, where the Jovians and Herculians were now
+posted, and, throwing those renowned corps into disorder, pressed
+on, driving them across the plain in headlong flight and slaying vast
+numbers of them. The corps would probably have been annihilated, had
+they not in their flight reached a hill occupied by the baggage
+train, which gallantly came to their aid, and, attacking the horse and
+elephants from higher ground, gained a signal success. The elephants,
+wounded by the javelins hurled down upon them from above, and maddened
+with the pain, turned upon their own side, and, roaring frightfully,
+carried confusion among the ranks of the horse, which broke up and fled.
+Many of the frantic animals were killed by their own riders or by the
+Persians on whom they were trampling, while others succumbed to the
+blows dealt them by the enemy. There was a frightful carnage, ending
+in the repulse of the Persians and the resumption of the Roman march.
+Shortly before night fell, Jovian and his army reached Samarah, then a
+fort of no great size upon the Tigris, and, encamping in its vicinity,
+passed the hours of rest unmolested. The retreat now continued for four
+days along the left bank of the Tigris, the progress made each day being
+small, since the enemy incessantly obstructed the march, pressing on
+the columns as they retired, but when they stopped drawing off, and
+declining an engagement at close quarters. On one occasion they even
+attacked the Roman camp, and, after insulting the legions with their
+cries, forced their way through the preatorian gate, and had nearly
+penetrated to the royal tent, when they were met and defeated by the
+legionaries. The Saracenic Arabs were especially troublesome. Offended
+by the refusal of Julian to continue their subsidies, they had
+transferred their services wholly to the other side, and pursued
+the Romans with a hostility that was sharpened by indignation and
+resentment. It was with difficulty that the Roman army, at the close
+of the fourth day, reached Dura, a small place upon the Tigris, about
+eighteen miles north of Samarah. Here a new idea seized the soldiers. As
+the Persian forces were massed chiefly on the left bank of the Tigris,
+and might find it difficult to transfer themselves to the other side, it
+seemed to the legionaries that they would escape half their difficulties
+if they could themselves cross the river, and place it between them and
+their foes. They had also a notion that on the west side of the stream
+the Roman frontier was not far distent, but might be reached by forced
+marches in a few days. They therefore begged Jovian to allow them to
+swim the stream. It was in vain that he and his officers opposed
+the project; mutinous cries arose; and, to avoid worse evils, he was
+compelled to consent that five hundred Gauls and Sarmatians, known to be
+expert swimmers, should make the attempt. It succeeded beyond his hopes.
+The corps crossed at night, surprised the Persians who held the opposite
+bank, and established themselves in a safe position before the dawn of
+day. By this bold exploit the passage of the other troops, many of whom
+could not swim, was rendered feasible, and Jovian proceeded to collect
+timber, brushwood, and skins for the formation of large rafts on which
+he might transport the rest of his army.
+
+These movements were seen with no small disquietude by the Persian king.
+The army which he had regarded as almost a certain prey seemed about
+to escape him. He knew that his troops could not pass the Tigris by
+swimming; he had, it is probable, brought with him no boats, and the
+country about Dura could not supply many; to follow the Romans, if they
+crossed the stream, he must construct a bridge, and the construction
+of a bridge was, to such unskilful engineers as the Persians, a work of
+time. Before it was finished the legions might be beyond his reach, and
+so the campaign would end, and he would have gained no advantage from
+it. Under these circumstances he determined to open negotiations with
+the Romans, and to see if he could not extract from their fears some
+important concessions. They were still in a position of great peril,
+since they could not expect to embark and cross the stream without
+suffering tremendous loss from the enemy before whom they would be
+flying. And it was uncertain what perils they might not encounter beyond
+the river in traversing the two hundred miles that still separated them
+from Roman territory. The Saracenic allies of Persia were in force on
+the further side of the stream; and a portion of Sapor's army might
+be conveyed across in time to hang on the rear of the legions and add
+largely to their difficulties. At any rate, it was worth while to
+make overtures and see what answer would be returned. If the idea of
+negotiating were entertained at all, something would be gained; for each
+additional day of suffering and privation diminished the Roman strength,
+and brought nearer the moment of absolute and complete exhaustion.
+Moreover, a bridge might be at once commenced at some little distance,
+and might be pushed forward, so that, if the negotiations failed, there
+should be no great delay in following the Romans across the river.
+
+Such were probably the considerations which led Sapor to send as envoys
+to the Roman camp at Dura the Surena and another great noble, who
+announced that they came to offer terms of peace. The great king, they
+said, having respect to the mutability of human affairs, was desirous
+of dealing mercifully with the Romans, and would allow the escape of
+the remnant which was left of their army, if the Caesar and his advisers
+accepted the conditions that he required. These conditions would be
+explained to any envoys whom Jovian might empower to discuss them with
+the Persian plenipotentiaries. The Roman emperor and his council
+gladly caught at the offer; and two officers of high rank, the general
+Arinthseus and the prefect Sallust, were at once appointed to confer
+with Sapor's envoys, and ascertain the terms on which peace would
+be granted. They proved to be such as Roman pride felt to be almost
+intolerable; and great efforts were made to induce Sapor to be content
+with less. The negotiations lasted for four days; but the Persian
+monarch was inexorable; each day diminished his adversary's strength and
+bettered his own position; there was no reason why he should make any
+concession at all; and he seems, in fact, to have yielded nothing of his
+original demands, except points of such exceedingly slight moment that
+to insist on them would have been folly.
+
+The following were the terms of peace to which Jovian consented. First,
+the five provinces east of the Tigris, which had been ceded to Rome by
+Narses, the grandfather of Sapor, after his defeat by Galerius, were to
+be given back to Persia, with their fortifications, their inhabitants,
+and all that they contained of value. The Romans in the territory were,
+however, to be allowed to withdraw and join their countrymen. Secondly,
+three places in Eastern Mesopotamia, Nisibis, Singara, and a fort called
+"the Camp of the Moors," were to be surrendered, but with the condition
+that not only the Romans, but the inhabitants generally, might retire
+ere the Persians took possession, and carry with them such of their
+effects as were movable. The surrender of these places necessarily
+involved that of the country which they commanded, and can scarcely
+imply less than the withdrawal of Rome from any claim to dominion over
+the region between the Tigris and the Khabour. Thirdly, all connection
+between Armenia and Rome was to be broken off; Arsaces was to be left
+to his own resources; and in any quarrel between him and Persia Rome
+was precluded from lending him aid. On these conditions a peace
+was concluded for thirty years; oaths to observe it faithfully were
+interchanged; and hostages were given and received on either side, to be
+retained until the stipulations of the treaty were executed.
+
+The Roman historian who exclaims that it would have been better to have
+fought ten battles than to have conceded a single one of these shameful
+terms, commands the sympathy of every reader, who cannot fail to
+recognize in his utterance the natural feeling of a patriot. And it is
+possible that Julian, had he lived, would have rejected so inglorious a
+peace, and have preferred to run all risks rather than sign it. But in
+that case there is every reason to believe that the army would have been
+absolutely destroyed, and a few stragglers only have returned to tell
+the tale of disaster. The alternative which Ammianus suggests--that
+Jovian, instead of negotiating, should have pushed on to Cordyene, which
+he might have reached in four days--is absurd; for Cordyeno was at least
+a hundred and fifty miles distant from Dura, and, at the rate of retreat
+which Jovian had found possible (four and a half miles a day), would
+have been reached in three days over a month! The judgment of Eutropius,
+who, like Ammianus, shared in the expedition, is probably correct--that
+the peace, though disgraceful, was necessary. Unless Jovian was prepared
+to risk not only his own life, but the lives of all his soldiers, it was
+essential that he should come to terms; and the best terms that he could
+obtain were those which he has been blamed for accepting.
+
+It is creditable to both parties that the peace, once made, was
+faithfully observed, all its stipulations being honestly and speedily
+executed. The Romans were allowed to pass the river without molestation
+from Sapor's army, and, though they suffered somewhat from the Saracens
+when landing on the other side, were unpursued in their retreat, and
+were perhaps even, at first, supplied to some extent with provisions.
+Afterwards, no doubt, they endured for some days great privations; but
+a convoy with stores was allowed to advance from Roman Mesopotamia into
+Persian territory, which met the famished soldiers at a Persian military
+post, called Ur or Adur, and relieved their most pressing necessities.
+On the Roman side, the ceded provinces and towns were quietly
+surrendered; offers on the part of the inhabitants to hold their own
+against the Persians without Roman aid were refused; the Roman troops
+were withdrawn from the fortresses; and the Armenians were told that
+they must henceforth rely upon themselves, and not look to Rome for
+help or protection. Thus Jovian, though strongly urged to follow ancient
+precedent, and refuse to fulfil the engagements contracted under the
+pressure of imminent peril, stood firm, and honorably performed all the
+conditions of the treaty. The second period of struggle between Rome
+and Persia had thus a termination exactly the reverse of the first.
+Rome ended the first period by a great victory and a great diplomatic
+success. At the close of the second she had to relinquish all her
+gains, and to draw back even behind the line which she occupied when
+hostilities first broke out. Nisibis, the great stronghold of Eastern
+Mesopotamia, had been in her possession ever since the time of Verus.
+Repeatedly attacked by Parthia and Persia, it had never fallen; but
+once, after which it had been soon recovered; and now for many years it
+had come to be regarded as the bulwark of the Roman power in the East,
+and as carrying with it the dominion of Western Asia.102 A fatal blow
+was dealt to Roman prestige when a city held for near two hundred years,
+and one honored with the name of "colony," was wrested from the empire
+and occupied by the most powerful of its adversaries. Not only Amida and
+Carrhae, but Antioch itself, trembled at a loss which was felt to lay
+open the whole eastern frontier to attack, and which seemed ominous of
+further retrogression. Although the fear generally felt proved to be
+groundless, and the Roman possessions in the East were not, for 200
+years, further curtailed by the Persians, yet Roman influence in Western
+Asia from this time steadily declined, and Persia came to be regarded
+as the first power in these regions. Much credit is due to Sapor II. for
+his entire conduct of the war with Constantius, Julian, and Jovian. He
+knew when to attack and when to remain upon the defensive, when to
+press on the enemy and when to hold himself in reserve and let the
+enemy follow his own devices. He rightly conceived from the first the
+importance of Nisibis, and resolutely persisted in his determination to
+acquire possession of it, until at last he succeeded. When, in A.D. 337,
+he challenged Rome to a trial of strength, he might have seemed rash
+and presumptuous. But the event justified him. In a war which lasted
+twenty-seven years, he fought numerous pitched battles with the Romans,
+and was never once defeated. He proved himself greatly superior as
+a general to Constantius and Jovian, and not unequal to Julian. By a
+combination of courage, perseverance, and promptness, he brought the
+entire contest to a favorable issue, and restored Persia, in A.D.
+363, to a higher position than that from which she had descended two
+generations earlier. If he had done nothing more than has already come
+under our notice, he would still have amply deserved that epithet of
+"Great" which, by the general consent of historians, has been assigned
+to him. He was undoubtedly among the greatest of the Sassanian monarchs,
+and may properly be placed above all his predecessors, and above all but
+one of those who succeeded him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+_Attitude of Armenia during the War between Sapor and Julian. Sapor's
+Treachery towards Arsaces. Sapor conquers Armenia. He attacks Iberia,
+deposes Sauromaces, and sets up a new King. Resistance and Capture of
+Artogerassa. Difficulties of Sapor. Division of Iberia between the Roman
+and Persian Pretenders. Renewal of Hostilities between Rome and Persia.
+Peace made with Valens. Death of Sapor. His Coins._
+
+
+"Rex Persidis, longaevus ille Sapor, post imperatoris Juliani excessum
+et pudendse pacis icta foedera . . . irqectabat Armeniae manum."--Amm.
+Marc, xxvii. 18.
+
+
+The successful issue of Sapor's war with Julian and Jovian resulted
+in no small degree from the attitude which was assumed by Armenia soon
+after Julian commenced his invasion. We have seen that the emperor,
+when he set out upon his expedition, regarded Armenia as an ally, and in
+forming his plans placed considerable dependence on the contingent which
+he expected from Arsaces, the Armenian monarch. It was his intention to
+attack Ctesiphon with two separate armies, acting upon two converging
+lines. While he himself advanced with his main force by way of the
+Euphrates valley and the Nahr-Malcha, he had arranged that his two
+generals, Procopius and Sebastian, should unite their troops with those
+of the Armenian king, and, after ravaging a fertile district of Media,
+make their way towards the great city, through Assyria and Adiabene,
+along the left bank of the Tigris. It was a bitter disappointment to him
+when, on nearing Ctesiphon, he could see no signs and hear no tidings
+of the northern army, from which he had looked for effectual aid at this
+crisis of the campaign. We have now to consider how this failure came
+about, what circumstances induced that hesitation and delay on the
+part of Sebastian and Procopius which had at any rate a large share
+in frustrating Julian's plans and causing the ill-success of his
+expedition.
+
+It appears that the Roman generals, in pursuance of the orders given
+them, marched across Northern Mesopotamia to the Armenian borders, and
+were there joined by an Armenian contingent which Arsaces sent to their
+assistance. The allies marched together into Media, and carried fire
+and sword through the fruitful district known as Chiliacomus, or "the
+district of the Thousand Villages." They might easily have advanced
+further; but the Armenians suddenly and without warning drew off and
+fell back towards their own country. According to Moses of Chorene,
+their general, Zurseus, was actuated by a religious motive; it seemed
+to him monstrous that Armenia, a Christian country, should embrace the
+cause of an apostate, and he was prepared to risk offending his own
+sovereign rather than lend help to one whom he regarded as the enemy of
+his faith. The Roman generals, thus deserted by their allies, differed
+as to the proper course to pursue. While one was still desirous of
+descending the course of the Tigris, and making at least an attempt to
+effect a junction with Julian, the other forbade his soldiers to join in
+the march, and insisted on falling back and re-entering Mesopotamia. As
+usual in such cases, the difference of opinion resulted in a policy of
+inaction. The attempt to join Julian was given up; and the second army,
+from which he had hoped so much, played no further part in the campaign
+of A.D. 363.
+
+We are told that Julian heard of the defection of the Armenians while
+he was still on his way to Ctesiphon, and immediately sent a letter to
+Arsacos, complaining of his general's conduct, and threatening to exact
+a heavy retribution on his return from the Persian war, if the offence
+of Zurseus were not visited at once with condign punishment. Arsaces was
+greatly alarmed at the message; and, though he made no effort to supply
+the shortcomings of his officer by leading or sending fresh troops to
+Julian's assistance, yet he hastened to acquit himself of complicity
+in the misconduct of Zurseus by executing him, together with his whole
+family. Having thus, as he supposed, secured himself against Julian's
+anger, he took no further steps, but indulged his love of ease and his
+distaste for the Roman alliance by remaining wholly passive during the
+rest of the year.
+
+But though the attitude taken by Armenia was thus, on the whole,
+favorable to the Persians,and undoubtedly contributed to Sapor's
+success, he was himself so far from satisfied with the conduct of
+Arsaces that he resolved at once to invade his country and endeavor to
+strip him of his crown. As Rome had by the recent treaty relinquished
+her protectorate over Armenia, and bound herself not to interfere in
+any quarrel between the Armenians and the Persians, an opportunity was
+afforded for bringing Armenia into subjection which an ambitious monarch
+like Sapor was not likely to let slip. He had only to consider whether
+he would employ art or violence, or whether he would rather prefer a
+judicious admixture of the two. Adopting the last-named course as the
+most prudent, he proceeded to intrigue with a portion of the Armenian
+satraps, while he made armed incursions on the territories of others,
+and so harassed the country that after a while the satraps generally
+went over to his side, and represented to Arsaces that no course was
+open to him but to make his submission. Having brought matters to this
+point, Sapor had only further to persuade Arsaces to surrender himself,
+in order to obtain the province which he coveted, almost without
+striking a blow. He therefore addressed Arsaces a letter which,
+according to the only writer who professes to give its terms, was
+expressed as follows:
+
+"Sapor, the offspring of Ormazd, comrade of the sun, king of kings,
+sends greeting to his dear brother, Arsaces, king of Armenia, whom he
+holds in affectionate remembrance. It has come to our knowledge that
+thou hast approved thyself our faithful friend, since not only didst
+thou decline to invade Persia with Caesar, but when he took a contingent
+from thee thou didst send messengers and withdraw it. Moreover, we have
+not forgotten how thou actedst at the first, when thou didst prevent
+him from passing through thy territories, as he wished. Our soldiers,
+indeed, who quitted their post, sought to cast on thee the blame due to
+their own cowardice. But we have not listened to them: their leader we
+punished with death, and to thy realm, I swear by Mithra, we have done
+no hurt. Arrange matters then so that thou mayest come to us with all
+speed, and consult with us concerning our common advantage. Then thou
+canst return home."
+
+Arsaces, on receiving this missive, whatever suspicions he may have
+felt, saw no course open to him but to accept the invitation. He
+accordingly quitted Armenia and made his way to the court of Sapor,
+where he was immediately seized and blinded. He was then fettered with
+chains of silver, according to a common practice of the Persians with
+prisoners of distinction, and was placed in strict confinement in a
+place called "the Castle of Oblivion."
+
+But the removal of their head did not at once produce the submission
+of the people. A national party declared itself under, Pharandzem, the
+wife, and Bab (or Para), the son of Arsaces, who threw themselves into
+the strong fortress of Artogerassa (Ardakers), and there offered to
+Sapor a determined resistance. Sapor committed the siege of this place
+to two renegade Armenians, Cylaces and Artabannes, while at the same
+time he proceeded to extend his influence beyond the limits of Armenia
+into the neighboring country of Iberia, which was closely connected with
+Armenia, and for the most part followed its fortunes.
+
+Iberia was at this time under the government of a king bearing the
+name of Sauromaces, who had received his investiture from Rome, and was
+consequently likely to uphold Roman interests. Sapor invaded Iberia,
+drove Sauromaces from his kingdom, and set up a new monarch in the
+person of a certain Aspacures, on whose brow he placed the coveted
+diadem. He then withdrew to his own country, leaving the complete
+subjection of Armenia to be accomplished by his officers, Cylaces and
+Artabannes, or, as the Armenian historians call them, Zig and Garen.
+
+Cylaces and Artabannes commenced the siege of Artogerassa, and for a
+time pressed it with vigor, while they strongly urged the garrison
+to make their submission. But, having entered within the walls to
+negotiate, they were won over by the opposite side, and joined in
+planning a treacherous attack on the besieging force, which was
+surprised at night and compelled to retire. Para took advantage of their
+retreat to quit the town and throw himself on the protection of Valens,
+the Roman emperor, who permitted him to reside in regal state at
+Neocaesarea. Shortly afterwards, however, by the advice of Cylaces and
+Artabannes, he returned into Armenia, and was accepted by the patriotic
+party as their king, Rome secretly countenancing his proceedings. Under
+these circumstances the Persian monarch once more took the field, and,
+entering Armenia at the head of a large army, drove Para, with his
+counsellors Cylaces and Artabannes, to the mountains, renewed the siege
+of Artogerassa, and forced it to submit, captured the queen Pharandzem,
+together with the treasure of Arsaces, and finally induced Para to
+come to terms, and to send him the heads of the two arch-traitors. The
+resistance of Armenia would probably now have ceased, had Rome
+been content to see her old enemy so aggrandized, or felt her hands
+absolutely tied by the terms of the treaty of Dura.
+
+But the success of Sapor thus far only brought him into greater
+difficulties. The Armenians and Iberians, who desired above all things
+liberty and independence, were always especially hostile to the power
+from which they felt that they had for the time being most to fear. As
+Christian nations, they had also at this period an additional ground of
+sympathy with Rome, and of aversion from the Persians, who were at once
+heathens and intolerant. The patriotic party in both countries was thus
+violently opposed to the establishment of Sapor's authority over them,
+and cared little for the artifices by which he sought to make it appear
+that they still enjoyed freedom and autonomy. Above all, Rome, being
+ruled by monarchs who had had no hand in making the disgraceful peace of
+A.D. 363, and who had no strong feeling of honor or religious obligation
+in the matter of treaties with barbarians, was preparing herself to fly
+in the face of her engagements, and, regarding her own interest as her
+highest law, to interfere effectually in order to check the progress of
+Persia in North-Western Asia.
+
+Rome's first open interference was in Ibera. Iberia had perhaps not been
+expressly named in the treaty, and support might consequently be
+given to the expelled Sauromaces without any clear infraction of its
+conditions. The duke Terentius was ordered, therefore, towards the close
+of A.D. 370, to enter Iberia with twelve legions and replace upon his
+throne the old Roman feudatory. Accordingly he invaded the country from
+Lazica, which bordered it upon the north, and found no difficulty in
+conquering it as far as the river Cyrus. On the Cyrus, however, he was
+met by Aspacures, the king of Sapor's choice, who made proposals for an
+accommodation. Representing himself as really well-inclined to Rome, and
+only prevented from declaring himself by the fact that Sapor held his
+son as a hostage, he asked Terentius' consent to a division of Iberia
+between himself and his rival, the tract north of the Cyrus being
+assigned to the Roman claimant, and that south of the river remaining
+under his own government. Terentius, to escape further trouble,
+consented to the arrangement; and the double kingdom was established.
+The northern and western portions of Iberia were made over to
+Sauromaces; the southern and eastern continued to be ruled by Aspacures.
+
+When the Persian king received intelligence of these transactions he was
+greatly excited. To him it appeared clear that by the spirit, if not by
+the letter, of the treaty of Dura, Rome had relinquished Iberia equally
+with Armenia; and he complained bitterly of the division which had been
+made of the Iberian territory, not only without his consent, but without
+his knowledge. He was no doubt aware that Rome had not really confined
+her interference to the region with which she had some excuse for
+intermeddling, but had already secretly intervened in Armenia, and was
+intending further intervention. The count Arinthseus had been sent with
+an army to the Armenian frontier about the same time that Terentius
+had invaded Iberia, and had received positive instructions to help
+the Armenians if Sapor molested them. It was in vain that the Persian
+monarch appealed to the terms of the treaty of Dura--Rome dismissed his
+ambassadors with contempt, and made no change in her line of procedure.
+Upon this Sapor saw that war was unavoidable; and accordingly he wasted
+no more time in embassies, but employed himself during the winter, which
+had now begun, in collecting as large a force as he could, in part from
+his allies, in part from his own subjects, resolving to take the field
+in the spring, and to do his best to punish Rome for her faithlessness.
+
+Rome on her part made ready to resist the invasion which she knew to
+be impending. A powerful army was sent to guard the East under count
+Trajan, and Vadomair, ex-king of the Alemanni; but so much regard for
+the terms of the recent treaty was still felt, or pretended, that the
+generals received orders to be careful not to commence hostilities,
+but to wait till an attack was made on them. They were not kept long
+in expectation. As soon as winter was over, Sapor crossed the frontier
+(A.D. 371) with a large force of native cavalry and archers, supported
+by numerous auxiliaries, and attacked the Romans near a place called
+Vagabanta. The Roman commander gave his troops the order to retire;
+and accordingly they fell back under a shower of Persian arrows, until,
+several having been wounded, they felt that they could with a good face
+declare that the rupture of the peace was the act of the Persians. The
+retreat was then exchanged for an advance, and after a brief engagement
+the Romans were victorious, and inflicted a severe loss upon their
+adversaries. But the success was not followed by results of any
+importance. Neither side seems to have been anxious for another general
+encounter; and the season for hostilities was occupied by a sort of
+guerilla warfare, in which the advantage rested alternately with the
+Persians and the Romans. At length, when the summer was ended, the
+commanders on either side entered into negotiations; and a truce was
+made which allowed Sapor to retire to Ctesiphon, and the Roman emperor,
+who was now personally directing the war, to go into winter quarters at
+Antioch.
+
+After this the war languished for two or three years. Valens was wholly
+deficient in military genius, and was quite content if he could maintain
+a certain amount of Roman influence in Armenia and Iberia, while at
+the same time he protected the Roman frontier against Persian invasion.
+Sapor was advanced in years, and might naturally desire repose, having
+been almost constantly engaged in military expeditions since he
+reached the age of sixteen. Negotiations seem to have alternated with
+hostilities during the interval between A.D. 371 and 376; but they
+resulted in nothing, until, in this last-named year, a peace was made,
+which gave tranquillity to the East during the remainder of the reign of
+Sapor.
+
+The terms upon which this peace was concluded are obscure. It is perhaps
+most probable that the two contracting powers agreed to abstain from
+further interference with Iberia and Armenia, and to leave those
+countries to follow their own inclinations. Armenia seems by the native
+accounts to have gravitated towards Rome under these circumstances, and
+Iberia is likely to have followed her example. The tie of Christianity
+attached these countries to the great power of the West; and, except
+under compulsion, they were not likely at this time to tolerate the
+yoke of Persia for a day. When Jovian withdrew the Roman protection from
+them, they were forced for a while to submit to the power which they
+disliked; but no sooner did his successors reverse his policy, and show
+themselves ready to uphold the Armenians and Iberians against Persia,
+than they naturally reverted to the Roman side, and formed an important
+support to the empire against its Eastern rival.
+
+The death of Sapor followed the peace of A.D. 376 within a few years. He
+died A.D. 379 or 380, after having reigned seventy years. It is curious
+that, although possessing the crown for so long a term, and enjoying a
+more brilliant reign than any preceding monarch, he neither left behind
+him any inscriptions, nor any sculptured memorials. The only material
+evidences that we possess of his reign are his coins, which are
+exceedingly numerous. According to Mordtmann, they may be divided into
+three classes, corresponding to three periods in his life. The earliest
+have on the reverse the fire-altar, with two priests, or guards, looking
+towards the altar, and with the flame rising from the altar in the usual
+way. The head on the obverse is archaic in type, and very much resembles
+that of Sapor I. The crown has attached to it, in many cases, that
+"cheek-piece" which is otherwise confined to the first three monarchs of
+the line. These coins are the best from an artistic point of view; they
+greatly resemble those of the first Sapor, but are distinguishable from
+them, first, by the guards looking towards the altar instead of away
+from it; and, secondly, by a greater profusion of pearls about the
+king's person. The coins of the second period lack the "cheek-piece,"
+and have on the reverse the fire-altar without supporters; they are
+inferior as works of art to those of the first period, but much superior
+to those of the third. These last, which exhibit a marked degeneracy,
+are especially distinguished by having a human head in the middle of the
+flames that rise from the altar. Otherwise they much resemble in their
+emblems the early coins, only differing from them in being artistically
+inferior. The ordinary legends upon the coins are in no respect
+remarkable; but occasionally we find the monarch taking the new and
+expressive epithet of Toham, "the Strong." [PLATE XIX., Fig. 1.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 19]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+_Short Reigns of Artaxerxes II. and Sapor III. Obscurity of their
+History. Their Relations with Armenia. Monument of Sapor III. at
+Tdkht-i-Bostan. Coins of Artaxerxes II. and Sapor III. Reign of Varahran
+IV. His Signets. His Dealings with Armenia. His Death._
+
+
+The glorious reign of Sapor II., which carried the New Persian Empire
+to the highest point whereto it had yet attained, is followed by a time
+which offers to that remarkable reign a most complete contrast. Sapor
+had occupied the Persian throne for a space approaching nearly to
+three-quarters of a century; the reigns of his next three successors
+amounted to no more than twenty years in the aggregate. Sapor had been
+engaged in perpetual wars, had spread the terror of the Persian arms on
+all sides, and ruled more gloriously than any of his predecessors. The
+kings who followed him were pacific and unenterprising; they were almost
+unknown to their neighbors, and are among the least distinguished of the
+Sassanian monarchs. More especially does this character attach to the
+two immediate successors of Sapor II., viz. Artaxerxes II. and Sapor
+III. They reigned respectively four and five years; and their annals
+during this period are almost a blank. Artaxerxes II., who is called by
+some the brother of Sapor II., was more probably his son. He succeeded
+his father in A.D. 379, and died at Ctesiphon in A.D. 383. He left a
+character for kindness and amiability behind him, and is known to
+the Persians as Nihoukar, or "the Beneficent," and to the Arabs as Al
+Djemil, "the Virtuous." According to the "Modjmel-al-Tewarikh," he
+took no taxes from his subjects during the four years of his reign, and
+thereby secured to himself their affection and gratitude. He seems to
+have received overtures from the Armenians soon after his accession, and
+for a time to have been acknowledged by the turbulent mountaineers as
+their sovereign. After the murder of Bab, or Para, the Romans had set
+up, as king over Armenia, a certain Varaztad (Pharasdates), a member
+of the Arsacid family, but no near relation of the recent monarchs,
+assigning at the same time the real direction of affairs to an Armenian
+noble named Moushegh, who belonged to the illustrious family of the
+Mamigonians. Moushegh ruled Armenia with vigor, but was suspected of
+maintaining over-friendly relations with the Roman emperor, Valens, and
+of designing to undermine and supplant his master. Varaztad, after a
+while, having been worked on by his counsellors, grew suspicious of him,
+and caused him to be executed at a banquet. This treachery roused the
+indignation of Moushegh's brother Manuel, who raised a rebellion against
+Varaztad, defeated him in open fight, and drove him from his kingdom.
+Manuel then brought forward the princess Zermandueht, widow of the late
+king Para, together with her two young sons, Arsaces and Valarsaces,
+and, surrounding all three with royal pomp, gave to the two princes the
+name of king, while he took care to retain in his own hands the real
+government of the country. Under these circumstances he naturally
+dreaded the hostility of the Roman emperor, who was not likely to see
+with patience a monarch, whom he had set upon the throne, deprived of
+his kingdom by a subject. To maintain the position which he had assumed,
+it was necessary that he should contract some important alliance; and
+the alliance always open to Armenia when she had quarrelled with Rome
+was with the Persians. It seems to have been soon after Artaxerxes II.
+succeeded his father, that Manuel sent an embassy to him, with letters
+and rich gifts, offering, in return for his protection, to acknowledge
+him as lord-paramount of Armenia, and promising him unshakable fidelity.
+The offer was, of course, received with extreme satisfaction; and terms
+were speedily arranged. Armenia was to pay a fixed tribute, to receive
+a garrison of ten thousand Persians and to provide adequately for their
+support, to allow a Persian satrap to divide with Manuel the actual
+government of the country, and to furnish him with all that was
+necessary for his court and table. On the other hand, Arsacos and
+Valarsaces, together (apparently) with their mother, Zermandueht, were
+to be allowed the royal title and,honors; Armenia was to be protected
+in case of invasion; and Manuel was to be maintained in his office of
+Sparapet or generalissimo of the Armenian forces. We cannot say with
+certainty how long this arrangement remained undisturbed; most probably,
+however, it did not continue in force more than a few years. It was most
+likely while Artaxerxes still ruled Persia, that the rupture described
+by Faustus occurred. A certain Meroujan, an Armenian, noble, jealous
+of the power and prosperity of Manuel, persuaded him that the Persian
+commandant in Armenia was about to seize his person, and either to send
+him a prisoner to Artaxerxes, or else to put him to death. Manuel, who
+was so credulous as to believe the information, thought it necessary for
+his own safety to anticipate the designs of his enemies, and, falling
+upon the ten thousand Persians with the whole of the Armenian army,
+succeeded in putting them all to the sword, except their commander,
+whom he allowed to escape. War followed between Persia and Armenia with
+varied success, but on the whole Manuel had the advantage; he repulsed
+several Persian invasions, and maintained the independence and integrity
+of Armenia till his death, without calling in the aid of Rome. When,
+however, Manuel died, about A.D. 383, Armenian affairs fell into
+confusion; the Romans were summoned to give help to one party, the
+Persians to render assistance to the other; Armenia became once more the
+battle-ground between the two great powers, and it seemed as if the old
+contest, fraught with so many calamities, was to be at once renewed. But
+the circumstances of the time were such that neither Rome nor Persia
+now desired to reopen the contest. Persia was in the hands of weak and
+unwarlike sovereigns, and was perhaps already threatened by Scythic
+hordes upon the east. Rome was in the agonies of a struggle with the
+ever-increasing power of the Goths; and though, in the course of the
+years A.D. 379-382, the Great Theodosius had established peace in the
+tract under his rule, and delivered the central provinces of Macedonia
+and Thrace from the intolerable ravages of the barbaric invaders, yet
+the deliverance had been effected at the cost of introducing large
+bodies of Goths into the heart of the empire, while still along the
+northern frontier lay a threatening cloud, from which devastation and
+ruin might at any time burst forth and overspread the provinces upon the
+Lower Danube. Thus both the Roman emperor and the Persian king were well
+disposed towards peace. An arrangement was consequently made, and in
+A.D. 384, five years after he had ascended the throne, Theodosius gave
+audience in Constantinople to envoys from the court of Persepolis, and
+concluded with them a treaty whereby matters in Armenia were placed on
+a footing which fairly satisfied both sides, and the tranquillity of the
+East was assured. The high contracting powers agreed that Armenia should
+be partitioned between them. After detaching from the kingdom various
+outlying districts, which could be conveniently absorbed into their
+own territories, they divided the rest of the country into two unequal
+portions. The smaller of these, which comprised the more western
+districts, was placed under the protection of Rome, and was committed by
+Theodosius to the Arsaces who had been made king by Manuel, the son
+of the unfortunate Bab, or Para, and the grandson of the Arsaces
+contemporary with Julian. The larger portion, which consisted of the
+regions lying towards the east, passed under the suzerainty of Persia,
+and was confided by Sapor III., who had succeeded Artaxerxes II., to an
+Arsacid, named Chosroes, a Christian, who was given the title of king,
+and received in marriage at the same time one of Sapor's sisters.
+Such were the terms on which Rome and Persia brought their contention
+respecting Armenia to a conclusion. Friendly relations were in this way
+established between the two crowns, which continued undisturbed for the
+long space of thirty-six years (A.D. 384-420).
+
+Sapor III. appears to have succeeded his brother Artaxerxes in A.D. 383,
+the year before the conclusion of the treaty. It is uncertain whether
+Artaxerxes vacated the throne by death, or was deposed in consequence of
+cruelties whereof he was guilty towards the priests and nobles. Tabari
+and Macoudi, who relate his deposition, are authors on whom much
+reliance cannot be placed; and the cruelties reported accord but ill
+with the epithets of "the Beneficent" and "the Virtuous," assigned to
+this monarch by others. Perhaps it is most probable that he held the
+throne till his death, according to the statements of Agathias and
+Eutychius. Of Sapor III., his brother and successor, two facts only are
+recorded--his conclusion of the treaty with the Romans in A.D. 384, and
+his war with the Arabs of the tribe of Yad, which must have followed
+shortly afterwards. It must have been in consequence of his contest with
+the latter, whom he attacked in their own country, that he received from
+his countrymen the appellation of "the Warlike," an appellation better
+deserved by either of the other monarchs who had borne the same name.
+
+Sapor III. left behind him a sculptured memorial, which is still to be
+seen in the vicinity of Kermanshah. [PLATE XX.] It consists of two very
+similar figures, looking towards each other, and standing in an arched
+frame. On either side of the figures are inscriptions in the Old
+Pehlevi character, whereby we are enabled to identify the individuals
+represented with the second and the third Sapor. The inscriptions run
+thus:--_"Pathkell zani mazdisn shahia Shahpuhri, malkan malJca Allan ve
+Anilan, minuchitli min yazdan, bari mazdisn shahia Auhr-mazdi, malkan
+malka Allan ve Anilan, minuchitli min yazdan, napi shahia Narshehi
+malkan malka;"_ and _"Pathkeli mazdisn shahia Shahpuhri, malkan mallca
+Allan ve Anilan, minuchitli min yazdan, bari mazdisn shahia Shahpuhri,
+malkan malka Allan ve Anilan, minuchitli min yazdan, napi shahia
+Auhrmazdi, malkan malka."_ They are, it will be seen, identical in form,
+with the exception that the names in the right-hand inscription are
+"Sapor, Hormisdas, Narses," while those in the left-hand one are
+"Sapor, Sapor, Hormisdas." It has been supposed that the right-hand
+figure was erected by Sapor II., and the other afterwards added by Sapor
+III.; but the unity of the whole sculpture, and its inclusion under a
+single arch, seem to indicate that it was set up by a single sovereign,
+and was the fruit of a single conception. If this be so, we must
+necessarily ascribe it to the later of the two monarchs commemorated,
+i.e. to Sapor III., who must be supposed to have possessed more than
+usual filial piety, since the commemoration of their predecessors upon
+the throne is very rare among the Sassanians.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 20]
+
+
+The taste of the monument is questionable. An elaborate finish of all
+the details of the costume compensates but ill for a clumsiness of
+contour and a want of contrast and variety, which indicate a low
+condition of art, and compare unfavorably with the earlier performances
+of the Neo-Persian sculptors. It may be doubted whether, among all the
+reliefs of the Sassanians, there is one which is so entirely devoid of
+artistic merit as this coarse and dull production.
+
+The coins of Sapor III. and his predecessor, Artaxerxes II., have little
+about them that is remarkable. Those of Artaxerxes bear a head which
+is surmounted with the usual inflated ball, and has the diadem, but is
+without a crown--a deficiency in which some see an indication that the
+prince thus represented was regent rather than monarch of Persia. [PLATE
+XIX. Fig. 2.] The legends upon the coins are, however, in the usual
+style of royal epigraphs, running commonly--_"Mazdisn bag Artah-shetri
+malkan malka Air an ve Aniran,"_ or "the Ormazd-worshipping divine
+Artaxerxes, king of the kings of Iran and Turan." They are easily
+distinguishable from those of Artaxerxes I., both by the profile, which
+is far less marked, and by the fire-altar on the reverse, which has
+always two supporters, looking towards the altar. The coins of Sapor
+III. present some unusual types. [PLATE XIX. Fig. 6.] On some of them
+the king has his hair bound with a simple diadem, without crown or cap
+of any kind. On others he wears a cap of a very peculiar character,
+which has been compared to a biretta, but is really altogether _sui
+generis_. The cap is surmounted by the ordinary inflated ball, is
+ornamented with jewels, and is bound round at bottom with the usual
+diadem. The legend upon the obverse of Sapor's coins is of the customary
+character; but the reverse bears usually, besides the name of the king,
+the word _atur_, which has been supposed to stand for Aturia or Assyria;
+this explanation, however, is very doubtful.
+
+The coins of both kings exhibit marks of decline, especially on the
+reverse, where the drawing of the figures that support the altar is very
+inferior to that which we observe on the coins of the kings from Sapor
+I. to Sapor II. The characters on both obverse and reverse are also
+carelessly rendered, and can only with much difficulty be deciphered.
+
+Sapor III. died A.D. 388, after reigning a little more than five
+years. He was a man of simple tastes, and is said to have been fond of
+exchanging the magnificence and dreary etiquette of the court for the
+freedom and ease of a life under tents. On an occasion when he was thus
+enjoying himself, it happened that one of those violent hurricanes, to
+which Persia is subject, arose, and, falling in full force on the royal
+encampment, blew down the tent wherein he was sitting. It happened
+unfortunately that the main tent-pole struck him, as it fell, in a vital
+part, and Sapor died from the blow. Such at least was the account
+given by those who had accompanied him, and generally believed by his
+subjects. There were not, however, wanting persons to whisper that
+the story was untrue--that the real cause of the catastrophe which had
+overtaken the unhappy monarch was a conspiracy of his nobles, or his
+guards, who had overthrown his tent purposely, and murdered him ere he
+could escape from them.
+
+The successor of Sapor III. was Varahran IV., whom some authorities call
+his brother and others his son. This prince is known to the oriental
+writers as "Varahran Kerm-an-sh-ah," or "Varahran, king of Carmania."
+Agathias tells us that during the lifetime of his father he was
+established as governor over Kerman or Carmania, and thus obtained the
+appellation which pertinaciously adhered to him. A curious relic of
+antiquity, fortunately preserved to modern times amid so much that has
+been lost, confirms this statement. It is the seal of Varahran before
+he ascended the Persian throne, and contains, besides his portrait,
+beautifully cut, an inscription, which is read as follows:--_"Varahran
+Kerman malka, bari mazdisn bag Shahpuh-rimalkan malka Axran ve Aniran,
+minuchitri min yazclan,"_ or "Varahran, king of Kerman, son of the
+Ormazd-worshipping divine Sapor, king of the kings of Iran and Turan,
+heaven-descended of the race of the gods." [PLATE XIX. Fig. 5.] Another
+seal, belonging to him probably after he had become monarch of Persia,
+contains his full-length portrait, and exhibits him as trampling under
+foot a prostrate figure, supposed to represent a Roman, by which it
+would appear that he claimed to have gained victories or advantages
+over Rome. [PLATE XIX. Figs. 3 and 4.] It is not altogether easy to
+understand how this could have been. Not only do the Roman writers
+mention no war between the Romans and Persians at this time, but they
+expressly declare that the East remained in profound repose during
+the entire reign of Varahran, and that Rome and Persia continued to
+be friends. The difficulty may, however, be perhaps explained by a
+consideration of the condition of affairs in Armenia at this time; for
+in Armenia Rome and Persia had still conflicting interests, and, without
+having recourse to arms, triumphs might be obtained in this quarter by
+the one over the other.
+
+On the division of Armenia between Arsaces and Chosroes, a really good
+understanding had been established, which had lasted for about six
+years. Arsaces had died two years after he became a Roman feudatory;
+and, at his death, Rome had absorbed his territories into her empire,
+and placed the new province under the government of a count. No
+objection to the arrangement had been made by Persia, and the whole of
+Armenia had remained for four years tranquil and without disturbance.
+But, about A.D. 390, Chosroes became dissatisfied with his position, and
+entered into relations with Rome which greatly displeased the Armenian
+monarch. Chosroes obtained from Theodosius his own appointment to the
+Armenian countship, and thus succeeded in uniting both Roman and Persian
+Armenia under his government. Elated with this success, he proceeded
+further to venture on administrative acts which trenched, according
+to Persian views, on the rights of the lord paramount. Finally, when
+Varahran addressed to him a remonstrance, he replied in insulting terms,
+and, renouncing his authority, placed the whole Armenian kingdom under
+the suzerainty and protection of Rome. War between the two great powers
+must now have seemed imminent, and could indeed only have been avoided
+by great moderation and self-restraint on the one side or the other.
+Under these circumstances it was Rome that drew back. Theodosius
+declined to receive the submission which Chosroes tendered, and refused
+to lift a finger in his defence. The unfortunate prince was forced to
+give himself up to Varahan, who consigned him to the Castle of Oblivion,
+and placed his brother, Varabran-Sapor, upon the Armenian throne. These
+events seem to have fallen into the year A.D. 391, the third year of
+Varahran, who may well have felt proud of them, and have thought that
+they formed a triumph over Rome which deserved to be commemorated.
+
+The character of Varahran IV. is represented variously by the native
+authorities. According to some of them, his temper was mild, and his
+conduct irreproachable. Others say that he was a hard man, and so
+neglected the duties of his station that he would not even read the
+petitions or complaints which were addressed to him. It would seem that
+there must have been some ground for these latter representations, since
+it is generally agreed that the cause of his death was a revolt of
+his troops, who surrounded him and shot at him with arrows. One shaft,
+better directed than the rest, struck him in a vital part, and he fell
+and instantly expired. Thus perished, in A.D. 399, the third son of the
+Great Sapor, after a reign of eleven years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+_Accession of Isdigerd I. Peaceful Character of his Reign. His Alleged
+Guardianship of Theodosius II. His leaning towards Christianity, and
+consequent Unpopularity with his Subjects. His Change of view and
+Persecution of the Christians. His relations with Armenia. II. Coins.
+His Personal Character. His Death._
+
+
+Varahran IV. was succeeded (A.D. 399) by his son, Izdikerti or Isdigerd
+I. whom the soldiers, though they had murdered his father, permitted to
+ascend the throne without difficulty. He is said, at his accession, to
+have borne a good character for prudence and moderation, a character
+which he sought to confirm by the utterance on various occasions of
+high-sounding moral sentiments. The general tenor of his reign was
+peaceful; and we may conclude therefore that he was of an unwarlike
+temper, since the circumstances of the time were such as would naturally
+have induced a prince of any military capacity to resume hostilities
+against the Romans. After the arrangement made with Rome by Sapor III.
+in A.D. 384, a terrible series of calamities had befallen the empire.
+Invasions of Ostrogoths and Franks signalized the years A.D. 386 and
+388; in A.D. 387 the revolt of Maximus seriously endangered the western
+moiety of the Roman state; in the same year occurred an outburst of
+sedition at Antioch, which was followed shortly by the more dangerous
+sedition, and the terrible massacre of Thessalonica; Argobastes and
+Eugenius headed a rebellion in A.D. 393; Gildo the Moor detached Africa
+from the empire in A.D. 386, and maintained a separate dominion on the
+southern shores of the Mediterranean for twelve years, from A.D. 386
+to 398; in A.D. 395 the Gothic warriors within and without the Roman
+frontier took arms, and under the redoubtable Alaric threatened at once
+the East and the West, ravaged Greece, captured Corinth, Argos, and
+Sparta, and from the coasts of the Adriatic already marked for their
+prey the smiling fields of Italy. The rulers of the East and West,
+Arcadius and Honorius, were alike weak and unenterprising; and further,
+they were not even on good terms, nor was either likely to trouble
+himself very greatly about attacks upon the territories of the other.
+Isdigerd might have crossed the Euphrates, and overrun or conquered the
+Asiatic provinces of the Eastern Empire, without causing Honorious a
+pang, or inducing him to stir from Milan. It is true that Western Rome
+possessed at this time the rare treasure of a capable general; but
+Stilicho was looked upon with fear and aversion by the emperor of
+the East, and was moreover fully occupied with the defence of his own
+master's territories. Had Isdigerd, on ascending the throne in A.D. 399,
+unsheathed the sword and resumed the bold designs of his grandfather,
+Sapor II., he could scarcely have met with any serious or prolonged
+resistance. He would have found the East governed practically by the
+eunuch Eutropius, a plunderer and oppressor, universally hated and
+feared; he would have had opposed to him nothing but distracted counsels
+and disorganized forces; Asia Minor was in possession of the Ostrogoths,
+who, under the leadership of Tribigild, were ravaging and destroying far
+and wide; the armies of the State were commanded by Gainas, the Goth,
+and Leo, the wool-comber, of whom the one was incompetent, and the other
+unfaithful; there was nothing, apparently, that could have prevented
+him from overrunning Roman Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, or even from
+extending his ravages, or his dominion, to the shores of the AEgean. But
+the opportunity was either not seen, or was not regarded as having any
+attractions. Isdigerd remained tranquil and at rest within the walls of
+his capital. Assuming as his special title the characteristic epithet
+of "Ramashtras," "the most quiet," or "the most firm," he justified his
+assumption of it by a complete abstinence from all military expeditions.
+
+When Isdigerd had reigned peaceably for the space of nine years, he is
+said to have received a compliment of an unusual character. Arcadius,
+the emperor of the East, finding his end approaching, and anxious to
+secure a protector for his son Theodosius, a boy of tender age, instead
+of committing him to the charge of his uncle Honorius, or selecting a
+guardian for him from among his own subjects, by a formal testamentary
+act, we are told, placed his child under the protection of the Persian
+monarch. He accompanied the appointment by a solemn appeal to the
+magnanimity of Isdigerd, whom he exhorted at some length to defend with
+all his force, and guide with his best wisdom, the young king and his
+kingdom. According to one writer, he further appended to this trust a
+valuable legacy--no less than a thousand pounds weight of pure gold,
+which he begged his Persian brother to accept as a token of his
+goodwill. When Arcadius died, and the testament was opened, information
+of its contents was sent to Isdigerd, who at once accepted the charge
+assigned to him, and addressed a letter to the Senate of Constantinople,
+in which he declared his determination to punish any attempt against
+his ward with the extremest severity. Unable to watch over his charge in
+person, he selected for his guide and instructor a learned eunuch of
+his court, by name Antiochus, and sent him to Constantinople, where for
+several years he was the young prince's constant companion. Even after
+his death or expulsion, which took place in consequence of the intrigues
+of Pulcheria, Theodosius's elder sister, the Persian monarch continued
+faithful to his engagements. During the whole of his reign he not only
+remained at peace with the Romans, but avoided every act that they could
+have regarded as in the least degree unfriendly.
+
+Such is the narrative which has come down to us on the authority of
+historians, the earliest of whom wrote a century and a half after
+Arcadius's death. Modern criticism has, in general, rejected the entire
+story, on this account, regarding the silence of the earlier writers
+as outweighing the positive statements of the later ones. It should,
+however, be borne in mind, first that the earlier writers are few in
+number, and that their histories are very meagre and scanty; secondly,
+that the fact, if fact it were, was one not very palatable to
+Christians; and thirdly, that, as the results, so far as Rome was
+concerned, were negative, the event might not have seemed to be one of
+much importance, or that required notice. The character of Procopius,
+with whom the story originates, should also be taken into consideration,
+and the special credit allowed him by Agathias for careful and
+diligent research. It may be added, that one of the main points of the
+narrative--the position of Antiochus at Constantinople during the early
+years of Theodosius--is corroborated by the testimony of a contemporary,
+the bishop Synesius, who speaks of a man of this name, recently in the
+service of a Persian, as all-powerful with the Eastern emperor. It has
+been supposed by one writer that the whole story grew out of this fact;
+but the basis scarcely seems to be sufficient; and it is perhaps most
+probable that Arcadius did really by his will commend his son to the
+kind consideration of the Persian monarch, and that that monarch in
+consequence sent him an adviser, though the formal character of the
+testamentary act, and the power and position of Antiochus at the court
+of Constantinople, may have been overstated. Theodosius no doubt owed
+his quiet possession of the throne rather to the good disposition
+towards him of his own subjects than to the protection of a foreigner;
+and Isdigerd refrained from all attack on the territories of the young
+prince, rather by reason of his own pacific temper than in consequence
+of the will of Arcadius.
+
+The friendly relations established, under whatever circumstances,
+between Isdigerd and the Roman empire of the East seemed to have
+inclined the Persian monarch, during a portion of his reign, to take the
+Christians into his favor, and even to have induced him to contemplate
+seeking admission into the Church by the door of baptism. Antiochus, his
+representative at the Court of Arcadius, openly wrote in favor of the
+persecuted sect; and the encouragement received from this high quarter
+rapidly increased the number of professing Christians in the Persian
+territories. The sectaries, though oppressed, had long been allowed to
+have their bishops; and Isdigerd is said to have listened with approval
+to the teaching of two of them, Marutha, bishop of Mesopotamia, and
+Abdaas, bishop of Ctesiphon. Convinced of the truth of Christianity, but
+unhappily an alien from its spirit, he commenced a persecution of the
+Magians and their most powerful adherents, which caused him to be held
+in detestation by his subjects, and has helped to attach to his name the
+epithets of "Al-Khasha," "the Harsh," and "Al-Athim," "the Wicked." But
+the' persecution did not continue long. The excessive zeal of Abdaas
+after a while provoked a reaction; and Isdigerd, deserting the cause
+which he had for a time espoused, threw himself (with all the zeal of
+one who, after nearly embracing truth, relapses into error) into the
+arms of the opposite party. Abdaas had ventured to burn down the great
+Fire-Temple of Ctesiphon, and had then refused to rebuild it. Isdigerd
+authorized the Magian hierarchy to retaliate by a general destruction
+of the Christian churches throughout the Persian dominions, and by
+the arrest and punishment of all those who acknowledged themselves to
+believe the Gospel. A fearful slaughter of the Christians in Pergia
+followed during five years; some, eager for the earthly glory and the
+heavenly rewards of martyrdom, were forward to proclaim themselves
+members of the obnoxious sect; others, less courageous or less inclined
+to self-assertion, sought rather to conceal their creed; but these
+latter were carefully sought out, both in the towns and in the country
+districts, and when convicted were relentlessly put to death. Nor was
+mere death regarded as enough. The victims were subjected, besides,
+to cruel sufferings of various kinds, and the greater number of them
+expired under torture. Thus Isdigerd alternately oppressed the two
+religious professions, to one or other of which belonged the great mass
+of his subjects; and, having in this way given both parties reason to
+hate him, earned and acquired a unanimity of execration which has but
+seldom been the lot of persecuting monarchs.
+
+At the same time that Isdigerd allowed this violent persecution of the
+Christians in his own kingdom of Persia, he also sanctioned an
+attempt to extirpate Christianity in the dependent country of Armenia.
+Varahran-Sapor, the successor of Chosroes, had ruled the territory
+quietly and peaceably for twenty-one years. He died A.D. 413, leaving
+behind him a single son, Artases, who was at his father's death aged no
+more than ten years. Under these circumstances, Isaac, the Metropolitan
+of Armenia, proceeded to the court of Ctesiphon, and petitioned Isdigerd
+to replace on the Armenian throne the prince who had been deposed
+twenty-one years earlier, and who was still a prisoner on parole in the
+"Castle of Oblivion"--viz. Chosroes. Isdigerd acceded to the request;
+and Chosroes was released from confinement and restored to the throne
+from which he had been expelled by Varahran IV. in A.D. 391. He,
+however, survived his elevation only a year. Upon his decease, A.D.
+413, Isdigerd selected for the viceroyship, not an Arsacid, not even
+an Armenian, but his own son, Sapor, whom he forced upon the reluctant
+provincials, compelling them to acknowledge him as monarch (A.D.
+413-414). Sapor was instructed to ingratiate himself with the Armenian
+nobles, by inviting them to visit him, by feasting them, making them
+presents, holding friendly converse with them, hunting with them; and
+was bidden to use such influence as he might obtain to convert the
+chiefs from Christianity to Zoroastrianism. The young prince appears
+to have done his best; but the Armenians were obstinate, resisted his
+blandishments, and remained Christians in spite of all his efforts. He
+reigned from A.D. 414 to 418, at the end of which time, learning that
+his father had fallen into ill health, he quitted Armenia and returned
+to the Persian court, in order to press his claims to the succession.
+Isdigerd died soon afterwards (A.D. 419 or 420); and Sapor made an
+attempt to seize the throne; but there was another pretender
+whose partisans had more strength, and the viceroy of Armenia was
+treacherously assassinated in the palace of his father. Armenia remained
+for three years in a state of anarchy; and it was not till Varahran V.
+had been for some time established upon the Persian throne that Artases
+was made viceroy, under the name of Artasiris or Artaxerxes.
+
+The coins of Isdigerd I. are not remarkable as works of art; but they
+possess some features of interest. They are numerous, and appear to have
+been issued from various mints, but all bear a head of the same type.
+[PLATE XXI., Fig. 1.] It is that of a middle-aged man, with a short
+beard and hair gathered behind the head in a cluster of curls. The
+distinguishing mark is the headdress, which has the usual inflated ball
+above a fragment of the old mural crown, and further bears a crescent in
+front. The reverse has the usual fire-altar with supporters, and is
+for the most part very rudely executed. The ordinary legend is, on the
+obverse, _"Mazdisn bag ramashtras Izdikerti, malkan malka Airan,"_ or
+"the Ormazd-worshipping divine most peaceful Isdigerd, king of the kings
+of Iran;" and on the reverse, _Ramashtras Izdikerti,_ "the most peaceful
+Isdigerd." In some cases, there is a second name, associated with that
+of the monarch, on the reverse, a name which reads either "Ardashatri"
+(Artaxerxes) or, "Varahran." It has been conjectured that, where the
+name of "Artaxerxes" occurs, the reference is to the founder of the
+empire; while it is admitted that the "Varahran" intended is almost
+certainly Isdigerd's son and successor, Varahran V., the "Bahram-Grur"
+of the modern Persians. Perhaps a more reasonable account of the matter
+would be that Isdigerd had originally a son Artaxerxes, whom he intended
+to make his successor, but that this son died or offended him, and that
+then he gave his place to Varahran.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE 21.]
+
+
+The character of Isdigerd is variously represented. According to the
+Oriental writers, he had by nature an excellent disposition, and at the
+time of his accession was generally regarded as eminently sage, prudent,
+and virtuous; but his conduct after he became king disappointed all
+the hopes that had been entertained of him. He was violent, cruel, and
+pleasure-seeking; he broke all laws human and divine; he plundered the
+rich, ill-used the poor, despised learning, left those who did him a
+service unrewarded, suspected everybody. He wandered continually about
+his vast empire, not to benefit his subjects, but to make them all
+suffer equally. In curious contrast with these accounts is the picture
+drawn of him by the Western authors, who celebrate his magnanimity
+and his virtue, his peaceful temper, his faithful guardianship of
+Theodosius, and even his exemplary piety. A modern writer has suggested
+that he was in fact a wise and tolerant prince, whose very mildness and
+indulgence offended the bigots of his own country, and caused them to
+represent his character in the most odious light, and do their utmost
+to blacken his memory. But this can scarcely be accepted as the true
+explanation of the discrepancy. It appears from the ecclesiastical
+historians that, whatever other good qualities Isdigerd may have
+possessed, tolerance at any rate was not among his virtues. Induced
+at one time by Christian bishops almost to embrace Christianity, he
+violently persecuted the professors of the old Persian religion. Alarmed
+at a later period by the excessive zeal of his Christian preceptors, and
+probably fearful of provoking rebellion among his Zoroastrian subjects,
+he turned around upon his late friends, and treated them with a cruelty
+even exceeding that previously exhibited towards their adversaries. It
+was probably this twofold persecution that, offending both professions,
+attached to Isdigerd in his own country the character of a harsh and
+bad monarch. Foreigners, who did not suffer from his caprices or his
+violence, might deem him magnanimous and a model of virtue. His own
+subjects with reason detested his rule, and branded his memory with the
+well-deserved epithet of Al-Athim, "the Wicked."
+
+A curious tale is told as to the death of Isdigerd. He was still in
+the full vigor of manhood when one day a horse of rare beauty, without
+bridle or caparison, came of its own accord and stopped before the gate
+of his palace. The news was told to the king, who gave orders that the
+strange steed should be saddled and bridled, and prepared to mount it.
+But the animal reared and kicked, and would not allow any one to come
+near, till the king himself approached, when the creature totally
+changed its mood, appeared gentle and docile, stood perfectly still,
+and allowed both saddle and bridle to be put on. The crupper, however,
+needed some arrangement, and Isdigerd in full confidence proceeded to
+complete his task, when suddenly the horse lashed out with one of his
+hind legs, and dealt the unfortunate prince a blow which killed him on
+the spot. The animal then set off at speed, disembarrassed itself of its
+accoutrements, and galloping away was never seen any more. The modern
+historian of Persia compresses the tale into a single phrase, and tells
+us that "Isdigerd died from the kick of a horse:" but the Persians of
+the time regarded the occurrence as an answer to their prayers, and saw
+in the wild steed an angel sent by God.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+_Internal Troubles on the Death of Isdigerd I. Accession of Varahran V.
+His Persecution of the Christians. His War with Rome. His Relations with
+Armenia from A.D. 422 to A.D. 428. His Wars with the Scythic Tribes on
+his Eastern Frontier. His Strange Death. His Coins. His Character._
+
+
+It would seem that at the death of Isdigerd there was some difficulty as
+to the succession. Varahran, whom he had designated as his heir, appears
+to have been absent from the capital at the time; while another son,
+Sapor, who had held the Armenian throne from A.D. 414 to 418, was
+present at the seat of government, and bent on pushing his claims.
+Varahran, if we may believe the Oriental writers, who are here
+unanimous, had been educated among the Arab tribes dependent on Persia,
+who now occupied the greater portion of Mesopotamia. His training had
+made him an Arab rather than a Persian; and he was believed to have
+inherited the violence, the pride, and the cruelty of his father. His
+countrymen were therefore resolved that they would not allow him to be
+king. Neither were they inclined to admit the claims of Sapor, whose
+government of Armenia had not been particularly successful, and whose
+recent desertion of his proper post for the advancement of his own
+private interests was a crime against his country which deserved
+punishment rather than reward. Armenia had actually revolted as soon as
+he quitted it, had driven out the Persian garrison, and was a prey
+to rapine and disorder. We cannot be surprised that, under these
+circumstances, Sapor's machinations and hopes were abruptly terminated,
+soon after his father's demise, by his own murder. The nobles and chief
+Magi took affairs into their own hands. Instead of sending for Varahran,
+or awaiting his arrival, they selected for king a descendant of
+Artaxerxes I. only remotely related to Isdigerd--a prince of the name of
+Chosroes--and formally placed him upon the throne. But Varahran was not
+willing to cede his rights. Having persuaded the Arabs to embrace his
+cause, he marched upon Ctesiphon at the head of a large force, and by
+some means or other, most probably by the terror of his arms, prevailed
+upon Chosroes, the nobles, and the Magi, to submit to him. The people
+readily acquiesced in the change of masters; Chosroes descended into a
+private station, and Varahran, son of Isdigerd, became king.
+
+Varahran seems to have ascended the throne in A.D. 420. He at once
+threw himself into the hands of the priestly party, and, resuming the
+persecution of the Christians which his father had carried on during his
+later years, showed himself, to one moiety of his subjects at any
+rate, as bloody and cruel as the late monarch. Tortures of various
+descriptions were employed; and so grievous was the pressure put upon
+the followers of Christ that in a short time large numbers of the
+persecuted sect quitted the country, and placed themselves under the
+protection of the Romans. Varahran had to consider whether he would
+quietly allow the escape of these criminals, or would seek to enforce
+his will upon them at the risk of a rupture with Rome. He preferred the
+bolder line of conduct. His ambassadors were instructed to require
+the surrender of the refugees at the court of Constantinople; and when
+Theodosius, to his honor, indignantly rejected the demand, they had
+orders to protest against the emperor's decision, and to threaten him
+with their master's vengeance.
+
+It happened that at the time there were some other outstanding disputes,
+which caused the relations of the two empires to be less amicable than
+was to be desired. The Persians had recently begun to work their gold
+mines, and had hired experienced persons from the Romans, whose services
+they found so valuable that when the period of the hiring was expired
+they would not suffer the miners to quit Persia and return to their
+homes. They are also said to have ill-used the Roman merchants who
+traded in the Persian territories, and to have actually robbed them of
+their merchandise.
+
+These causes of complaint were not, however, it would seem, brought
+forward by the Romans, who contented themselves with simply refusing
+the demand for the extradition of the Christian fugitives, and
+refrained from making any counter-claims. But their moderation was not
+appreciated; and the Persian monarch, on learning that Rome would
+not restore the refugees, declared the peace to be at an end, and
+immediately made preparations for war. The Romans had, however,
+anticipated his decision, and took the field in force before the
+Persians were ready. The command was entrusted to a general bearing the
+strange name of Ardaburius, who marched his troops through Armenia into
+the fertile province of Arzanene, and there defeated Narses, the leader
+whom Varahran had sent against him. Proceeding to plunder Arzanene,
+Ardaburius suddenly heard that his adversary was about to enter the
+Roman province of Mesopotamia, which was denuded of troops, and seemed
+to invite attack. Hastily concluding his raid, he passed from Arzanene
+into the threatened district, and was in time to prevent the invasion
+intended by Narses, who, when he found his designs forestalled, threw
+himself into the fortress of Nisibis, and there stood on the defensive.
+Ardaburius did not feel himself strong enough to invest the town; and
+for some time the two adversaries remained inactive, each watching the
+other. It was during this interval that (if we may credit Socrates) the
+Persian general sent a challenge to the Roman, inviting him to fix time
+and place for a trial of strength between the two armies. Ardaburius
+prudently declined the overture, remarking that the Romans were not
+accustomed to fight battles when their enemies wished, but when it
+suited themselves. Soon afterwards he found himself able to illustrate
+his meaning by his actions. Having carefully abstained from attacking
+Nisibis while his strength seemed to him insufficient, he suddenly, upon
+receiving large reinforcements from Theodosius, changed his tactics,
+and, invading Persian Mesopotamia, marched upon the stronghold held by
+Narses, and formally commenced its siege.
+
+Hitherto Varahran, confident in his troops or his good fortune, had left
+the entire conduct of the military operations to his general; but
+the danger of Nisibis--that dearly won and highly prized
+possession--seriously alarmed him, and made him resolve to take the
+field in person with all his forces. Enlisting on his side the services
+of his friends the Arabs, under their great sheikh, Al-Amundarus
+(Moundsir), and collecting together a strong body of elephants, he
+advanced to the relief of the beleaguered town. Ardaburius drew off on
+his approach, burned his siege artillery, and retired from before the
+place. Nisibis was preserved; but soon afterwards a disaster is said to
+have befallen the Arabs, who, believing themselves about to be attacked
+by the Roman force, were seized with a sudden panic, and, rushing in
+headlong flight to the Euphrates (!) threw themselves into its waters,
+encumbered with their clothes and arms, and there perished to the number
+of a hundred thousand.
+
+The remaining circumstances of the war are not related by our
+authorities in chronological sequence. But as it is certain that the war
+lasted only two years, and as the events above narrated certainly belong
+to the earlier portion of it, and seem sufficient for one campaign, we
+may perhaps be justified in assigning to the second year, A.D. 421, the
+other details recorded--viz., the siege of Theodosiopolis, the combat
+between Areobindus and Ardazanes, the second victory of Ardaburius, and
+the destruction of the remnant of the Arabs by Vitianus.
+
+Theodosiopolis was a city built by the reigning emperor, Theodosius II.,
+in the Roman portion of Armenia, near the sources of the Euphrates.
+It was defended by strong walls, lofty towers, and a deep ditch. Hidden
+channels conducted an unfailing supply of water into the heart of the
+place, and the public granaries were large and generally well stocked
+with provisions. This town, recently built for the defence of the Roman
+Armenia, was (it would seem) attacked in A.D. 421 by Varahran in person.
+He besieged it for above thirty days, and employed against it all the
+means of capture which were known to the military art of the period.
+But the defence was ably conducted by the bishop of the city, a certain
+Eunomius, who was resolved that, if he could prevent it, an infidel
+and persecuting monarch should never lord it over his see. Eunomius not
+merely animated the defenders, but took part personally in the defence,
+and even on one occasion discharged a stone from a balista with his own
+hand, and killed a prince who had not confined himself to his military
+duties, but had insulted the faith of the besieged. The death of this
+officer is said to have induced Varahran to retire, and not further
+molest Theodosiopolis.
+
+While the fortified towns on either side thus maintained themselves
+against the attacks made on them, Theodosius, we are told, gave an
+independent command to the patrician Procopius, and sent him at the head
+of a body of troops to oppose Varahran. The armies met, and were on the
+point of engaging when the Persian monarch made a proposition to decide
+the war, not by a general battle, but by a single combat. Procopius
+assented; and a warrior was selected on either side, the Persians
+choosing for their champion a certain Ardazanes, and the Romans
+"Areobindus the Goth," count of the "Foederati." In the conflict which
+followed the Persian charged his adversary with his spear, but the
+nimble Goth avoided the thrust by leaning to one side, after which he
+entangled Ardazanes in a net, and then despatched him with his sword.
+The result was accepted by Varahran as decisive of the war, and he
+desisted, from any further hostilities. Areobindus received the thanks
+of the emperor for his victory, and twelve years later was rewarded with
+the consulship.
+
+But meanwhile, in other portions of the wide field over which the war
+was raging, Rome had obtained additional successes. Ardaburius, who
+probably still commanded in Mesopotamia, had drawn the Persian force
+opposed to him into an ambuscade, and had destroyed it, together with
+its seven generals. Vitianus, an officer of whom nothing more is known,
+had exterminated the remnant of the Arabs not drowned in the Euphrates.
+The war had gone everywhere against the Persians; and it is not
+improbable that Varahran, before the close of A.D. 421, proposed terms
+of peace.
+
+Peace, however, was not exactly made till the next year. Early in A.D.
+422, a Roman envoy, by name Maximus, appeared in the camp of Varahran,
+and, when taken into the presence of the great king, stated that he was
+empowered by the Roman generals to enter into negotiations, but had had
+no communication with the Roman emperor, who dwelt so far off that he
+had not heard of the war, and was so powerful that, if he knew of it,
+he would regard it as a matter of small account. It is not likely that
+Varahran was much impressed by these falsehoods; but he was tired of
+the war; he had found that Rome could hold her own, and that he was not
+likely to gain anything by prolonging it; and he was in difficulties as
+to provisions, whereof his supply had run short. He was therefore well
+inclined to entertain Maximus's proposals favorably. The corps of the
+"Immortals," however, which was in his camp, took a different view, and
+entreated to be allowed an opportunity of attacking the Romans unawares,
+while they believed negotiations to be going on, considering that under
+such circumstances they would be certain of victory. Varahran, according
+to the Roman writer who is here our sole authority, consented. The
+Immortals made their attack, and the Romans were at first in some
+danger; but the unexpected arrival of a reinforcement saved them, and
+the Immortals were defeated and cut off to a man. After this, Varahran
+made peace with Rome through the instrumentality of Maximus, consenting,
+it would seem, not merely that Rome should harbor the Persian
+Christians, if she pleased, but also that all persecution of Christians
+should henceforth cease throughout his own empire.
+
+The formal conclusion of peace was accompanied, and perhaps helped
+forward, by the well-judging charity of an admirable prelate. Acacius,
+bishop of Amida, pitying the condition of the Persian prisoners whom the
+Romans had captured during their raid into Arzanene, and were dragging
+off into slavery, interposed to save them; and, employing for the
+purpose all the gold and silver plate that he could find in the churches
+of his diocese, ransomed as many as seven thousand captives, supplied
+their immediate wants with the utmost tenderness, and sent them to
+Varahran, who can scarcely have failed to be impressed by an act so
+unusual in ancient times. Our sceptical historian remarks, with more
+apparent sincerity than usual, that this act was calculated "to
+inform, the Persian king of the true spirit of the religion which he
+persecuted," and that the name of the doer might well "have dignified
+the saintly calendar." These remarks are just; and it is certainly to
+be regretted that, among the many unknown or doubtful names of canonized
+Christians to which the Church has given her sanction, there is no
+mention made of Acacius of Amida.
+
+Varahran was perhaps the more disposed to conclude his war with Rome
+from the troubled condition of his own portion of Armenia, which
+imperatively required his attention. Since the withdrawal from that
+region of his brother Sapor in A.D. 418 or 419, the country had had no
+king. It had fallen into a state of complete anarchy and wretchedness;
+no taxes were collected; the roads were not safe; the strong robbed and
+oppressed the weak at their pleasure. Isaac, the Armenian patriarch,
+and the other bishops, had quitted their sees and taken refuge in Roman
+Armenia, where they were received favorably by the prefect of the East,
+Anatolius, who no doubt hoped by their aid to win over to his master the
+Persian division of the country. Varahran's attack on Theodosiopolis
+had been a counter movement, and had been designed to make the Romans
+tremble for their own possessions, and throw them back on the defensive.
+But the attack had failed; and on its failure the complete loss of
+Armenia probably seemed imminent. Varahran therefore hastened to make
+peace with Rome, and, having so done, proceeded to give his attention
+to Armenia, with the view of placing matters there on a satisfactory
+footing. Convinced that he could not retain Armenia unless with the
+good-will of the nobles, and believing them to be deeply attached to the
+royal stock of the Arsacids, he brought forward a prince of that noble
+house, named Artases, a son of Varahran-Sapor, and, investing him
+with the ensigns of royalty, made him take the illustrious name of
+Artaxerxes, and delivered into his hands the entire government of the
+country. These proceedings are assigned to the year A.D. 422, the year
+of the peace with Rome, and must have followed very shortly after the
+signature of the treaty.
+
+It might have been expected that this arrangement would have satisfied
+the nobles of Armenia, and have given that unhappy country a prolonged
+period of repose. But the personal character of Artaxerxes was,
+unfortunately, bad; the Armenian nobles were, perhaps, capricious; and
+after a trial of six years it was resolved that the rule of the Arsacid
+monarch could not be endured, and that Varahran should be requested
+to make Armenia a province of his empire, and to place it under the
+government of a Persian satrap. The movement was resisted with all his
+force by Isaac, the patriarch, who admitted the profligacy of Artaxerxes
+and deplored it, but held that the role of a Christian, however lax he
+might be, was to be preferred to that of a heathen, however virtuous.
+The nobles, however, were determined; and the opposition of Isaac had
+no other result than to involve him in the fall of his sovereign. Appeal
+was made to the Persian king and Varahran, in solemn state, heard the
+charges made against Artaxerxes by his subjects, and listened to
+his reply to them. At the end he gave his decision. Artaxerxes was
+pronounced to have forfeited his crown, and was deposed; his property
+was confiscated, and his person committed to safe custody. The monarchy
+was declared to be at an end; and Persarmenia was delivered into the
+hands of a Persian governor. The patriarch Isaac was at the same time
+degraded from his office and detained in Persia as a prisoner. It was
+not till some years later that he was released, allowed to return
+into Armenia, and to resume, under certain restrictions, his episcopal
+functions.
+
+The remaining circumstances of the reign of Varahran V. come to us
+wholly through the Oriental writers, amid whose exaggerations and fables
+it is very difficult to discern the truth. There can, however, be little
+doubt that it was during the reign of this prince that those terrible
+struggles commenced between the Persians and their neighbors upon the
+north-east which continued, from the early part of the fifth till the
+middle of the sixth century, to endanger the very existence of the
+empire. Various names are given to the people with whom Persia waged
+her wars during this period. They are called Turks, Huns, sometimes even
+Chinese, but these terms seem, to be used in a vague way, as "Scythian"
+was by the ancients; and the special ethnic designation of the people
+appears to be quite a different name from any of them. It is a name
+the Persian form of which is _Haithal_ or _Haiathleh_, the Armenian
+Hephthagh, and the Greek "Ephthalites," or sometimes "Nephthalites."
+Different conjectures have been formed as to its origin: but none of
+them can be regarded as more than an ingenious theory. All that we know
+of the Ephthalites is, that they were established in force, during
+the fifth and sixth centuries of our era, in the regions east of the
+Caspian, especially in those beyond the Oxus river, and that they
+were generally regarded as belonging to the Scythic or Finno-Turkic
+population, which, at any rate from B.C. 200, had become powerful in
+that region. They were called "White Huns" by some of the Greeks; but
+it is admitted that they were quite distinct from the Huns who invaded
+Europe under Attila; and it may be doubted whether the term "Hun" is
+more appropriate to them than that of Turk or even of Chinese. The
+description of their physical character and habits left us by Procopius,
+who wrote when they were at the height of their power, is decidedly
+adverse to the view that they were really Huns. They were a
+light-complexioned race, whereas the Huns were decidedly swart; they
+were not ill-looking, whereas the Huns were hideous; they were an
+agricultural people, while the Huns were nomads; they had good laws, and
+were tolerably well civilized, but the Huns were savages. It is probable
+that they belonged to the Thibetic or Turkish stock, which has always
+been in advance of the Finnic, and has shown a greater aptitude for
+political organization and social progress.
+
+We are told that the war of Varahran V. with this people commenced with
+an invasion of his kingdom by their Khacan, or Kahn, who crossed the
+Oxus with an army of 35,000 (or, according to others, of 250,000) men,
+and carried fire and sword into some of the most fertile provinces of
+Persia. The rich oasis, known as Meru or Merv, the ancient Margiana, is
+especially mentioned as overrun by his troops, which are said by some
+to have crossed the Elburz range into Khorassan and to have proceeded
+westward as far as Kei, or Rhages. When news of the invasion reached
+the Persian court, the alarm felt was great; Varahran was pressed
+to assemble his forces at once and encounter the unknown enemy; he,
+however, professed complete indifference, said that the Almighty would
+preserve the empire, and that, for his own part, he was going to hunt in
+Azerbijan, or Media Atropatene. During his absence the government could
+be conducted by Narses, his brother. All Persia was now thrown into
+consternation; Varahran was believed to have lost his senses; and it was
+thought that the only prudent course was to despatch an embassy to
+the Khacan, and make an arrangement with him by which Persia should
+acknowledge his suzerainty and consent to pay him a tribute. Ambassadors
+accordingly were sent; and the invaders, satisfied with the offer of
+submission, remained in the position which they had taken up, waiting
+for the tribute, and keeping slack guard, since they considered that
+they had nothing to fear. Varahran, however, was all the while preparing
+to fall upon them unawares. He had started for Azerbijan with a small
+body of picked warriors; he had drawn some further strength from
+Armenia; he proceeded along the mountain line through Taberistan,
+Hyrcania, and Nissa (Nishapur), marching only by night, and carefully
+masking his movements. In this way he reached the neighborhood of Merv
+unobserved. He then planned and executed a night attack on the invading
+army which was completely successful. Attacking his adversaries suddenly
+and in the dark--alarming them, moreover, with strange noises, and at
+the same time assaulting them with the utmost vigor--he put to flight
+the entire Tatar army. The Khan himself was killed; and the flying host
+was pursued to the banks of the Oxus. The whole of the camp equipage
+fell into the hands of the victors; and Khatoun, the wife of the great
+Khan, was taken. The plunder was of enormous value, and comprised
+the royal crown with its rich setting of pearls. After this success,
+Varahran, to complete his victory, sent one of his generals across the
+Oxus at the head of a large force, and falling upon the Tatars in their
+own country defeated them a second time with great slaughter. The
+enemy then prayed for peace, which was granted them by the victorious
+Varahran, who at the same time erected a column to mark the boundary of
+his empire in this quarter, and, appointing his brother Narses governor
+of Khorassan, ordered him to fix his residence at Balkh, and to prevent
+the Tatars from making incursions across the Oxus. It appears that
+these precautions were successful, for we hear nothing of any further
+hostilities in this quarter during the remainder of Varahran's reign.
+
+The adventures of Varahran in India, and the enlargement of his
+dominions in that direction by the act of the Indian king, who is said
+so have voluntarily ceded to him Mekran and Scinde in return for his
+services against the Emperor of China, cannot be regarded as historical.
+Scarcely more so is the story that Persia had no musicians in his day,
+for which reason he applied to the Indian monarch, and obtained from him
+twelve thousand performers, who became the ancestors of the Lurs. After
+a reign which is variously estimated at nineteen, twenty, twenty-one,
+and twenty-three years, Varahran died by a death which would have
+been thought incredible, had not a repetition of the disaster, on
+the traditional site, been witnessed by an English traveller in
+comparatively recent times. The Persian writers state that Varahran was
+engaged in the hunt of the wild ass, when his horse came suddenly upon
+a deep pool, or spring of water, and either plunged into it or threw his
+rider into it, with the result that Varahran sank and never reappeared.
+The supposed scene of the incident is a valley between Ispahan and
+Shiraz. Here, in 1810, an English soldier lost his life through bathing
+in the spring traditionally declared to be that which proved fatal to
+Varahran. The coincidence has caused the general acceptance of a tale
+which would probably have been otherwise regarded as altogether romantic
+and mythical.
+
+The coins of Varahran V. are chiefly remarkable for their rude and
+coarse workmanship and for the number of the mints from which they were
+issued. The mint-marks include Ctesiphon, Ecbatana, Isaphan, Arbela,
+Ledan, Nehavend, Assyria, Chuzistan, Media, and Kerman, or Carmania. The
+ordinary legend is, upon the obverse, _Mazdisn bag Varahran malha,_
+or _Mazdisn bag Varahran rasti malha,_ and on the reverse, "Yavahran,"
+together with a mint-mark. The head-dress has the mural crown in front
+and behind, but interposes between these two detached fragments a
+crescent and a circle, emblems, no doubt, of the sun and moon gods. The
+reverse shows the usual fire-altar, with guards, or attendants, watching
+it. The king's head appears in the flame upon the altar. (PLATE XXI.
+Fig. 2).
+
+According to the Oriental writers, Varahran V. was one of the best
+of the Sassanian princes. He carefully administered justice among his
+numerous subjects, remitted arrears of taxation, gave pensions to men of
+science and letters, encouraged agriculture, and was extremely liberal
+in the relief of poverty and distress. His faults were, that he was
+over-generous and over-fond of amusements, especially of the chase. The
+nickname of "Bahram-Gur," by which he is known to the Orientals, marks
+this last-named predilection, transferring to him, as it does, the name
+of the animal which was the especial object of his pursuit. But he was
+almost equally fond of dancing and of games. Still it does not appear
+that his inclination for amusements rendered him neglectful of public
+affairs, or at all interfered with his administration of the State.
+Persia is said to have been in a most flourishing condition during his
+reign. He may not have gained all the successes that are ascribed to
+him; but he was undoubtedly an active prince, brave, energetic, and
+clear-sighted. He judiciously brought the Roman war to a close when
+a new and formidable enemy appeared on his north-eastern frontier; he
+wisely got rid of the Armenian difficulty, which had been a stumbling
+block in the way of his predecessors for two hundred years; he inflicted
+a check on the aggressive Tatars, which indisposed them to renew
+hostilities with Persia for a quarter of a century. It would seem that
+he did not much appreciate art but he encouraged learning, and did his
+best to advance science.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+_Reign of Isdigerd II. His War with Rome. His Nine Years' War with the
+Ephthalites. His Policy towards Armenia. His Second Ephthalite War. His
+Character. His Coins._
+
+
+The successor of Varahan V. was his son, Isdigerd the Second, who
+ascended the Persian throne without opposition in the year A.D. 440.
+His first act was to declare war against Rome. The Roman forces were,
+it would seem, concentrated in the vicinity of Nisibis; and Isdigerd may
+have feared that they would make an attack upon the place. He therefore
+anticipated them, and invaded the empire with an army composed in part
+of his own subjects, but in part also of troops from the surrounding
+nations. Saracens, Tzani, Isaurians, and Huns (Ephthalites?) served
+under his standard; and a sudden incursion was made into the Roman
+territory, for which the imperial officers were wholly unprepared. A
+considerable impression would probably have been produced, had not
+the weather proved exceedingly unpropitious. Storms of rain and hail
+hindered the advance of the Persian troops, and allowed the Roman
+generals a breathing space, during which they collected an army. But
+the Emperor Theodosius was anxious that the flames of war should not be
+relighted in this quarter; and his instructions to the prefect of the
+East, the Count Anatolius, were such as speedily led to the conclusion,
+first of a truce for a year, and then of a lasting treaty. Anatolius
+repaired as ambassador to the Persian camp, on foot and alone, so as to
+place himself completely in Isdigerd's power--an act which so impressed
+the latter that (we are told) he at once agreed to make peace on the
+terms which Anatolius suggested. The exact nature of these terms is not
+recorded; but they contained at least one unusual condition. The
+Romans and Persians agreed that neither party should construct any new
+fortified post in the vicinity of the other's territory--a loose phrase
+which was likely to be variously interpreted, and might easily lead to
+serious complications.
+
+It is difficult to understand this sudden conclusion of peace by a young
+prince, evidently anxious to reap laurels, who in the first year of
+his reign had, at the head of a large army, invaded the dominions of a
+neighbor. The Roman account, that he invaded, that he was practically
+unopposed, and that then, out of politeness towards the prefect of
+the East, he voluntarily retired within his own frontier, "having done
+nothing disagreeable," is as improbable a narrative as we often meet
+with, even in the pages of the Byzantine historians. Something has
+evidently been kept back. If Isdigerd returned, as Procopius declares,
+without effecting anything, he must have been recalled by the occurrence
+of troubles in some other part of his empire. But it is, perhaps, as
+likely that he retired, simply because he had effected the object with
+which he engaged in the war. It was a constant practice of the Romans to
+advance their frontier by building strong towns on or near a debatable
+border, which attracted to them the submission of the neighboring
+district. The recent building of Theodosiopolis in the eastern part
+of Roman Armenia had been an instance of this practice. It was perhaps
+being pursued elsewhere along the Persian border, and the invasion of
+Isdigerd may have been intended to check it. If so, the proviso of the
+treaty recorded by Procopius would have afforded him the security which
+he required, and have rendered it unnecessary for him to continue the
+war any longer.
+
+His arms shortly afterwards found employment in another quarter. The
+Tatars of the Transoxianian regions were once more troublesome; and in
+order to check or prevent the incursions which they were always ready
+to make, if they were unmolested, Isdigerd undertook a long war on
+his northeastern frontier, which he conducted with a resolution
+and perseverance not very common in the East. Leaving his vizier,
+Mihr-Narses, to represent him at the seat of government, he transferred
+his own residence to Nishapm, in the mountain region between the Persian
+and Kharesmian deserts, and from that convenient post of observation
+directed the military operations against his active enemies, making a
+campaign against them regularly every year from A.D. 443 to 451. In the
+year last mentioned he crossed the Oxus, and, attacking the Ephthalites
+in their own territory, obtained a complete success, driving the monarch
+from the cultivated portion of the country, and forcing him to take
+refuge in the desert. So complete was his victory that he seems to have
+been satisfied with the result, and, regarding the war as terminated, to
+have thought the time was come for taking in hand an arduous task, long
+contemplated, but not hitherto actually attempted.
+
+This was no less a matter than the forcible conversion of Armenia to
+the faith of Zoroaster. It has been already noted that the religious
+differences which--from the time when the Armenians, anticipating
+Constantine, adopted as the religion of their state and nation the
+Christian faith (ab. A.D. 300)--separated the Armenians from the
+Persians, were a cause of weakness to the latter, more especially in
+their contests with Rome. Armenia was always, naturally, upon the
+Roman side, since a religious sympathy united it with the the court of
+Constantinople, and an exactly opposite feeling tended to detach it from
+the court of Ctesiphon. The alienation would have been, comparatively
+speaking, unimportant, after the division of Armenia between the two
+powers, had that division been regarded by either party as final, or as
+precluding the formation of designs upon the territory which each had
+agreed should be held by the other. But there never yet had been a time
+when such designs had ceased to be entertained; and in the war which
+Isdigerd had waged with Theodosius at the beginning of his reign,
+Roman intrigues in Persarmenia had forced him to send an army into
+that country. The Persians felt, and felt with reason, that so long as
+Armenia remained Christian and Persia held to the faith of Zoroaster,
+the relations of the two countries could never be really friendly;
+Persia would always have a traitor in her own camp; and in any time of
+difficulty--especially in any difficulty with Rome--might look to
+see this portion of her territory go over to the enemy. We cannot
+be surprised if Persian statesmen were anxious to terminate so
+unsatisfactory a state of things, and cast about for a means whereby
+Armenia might be won over, and made a real friend instead of a concealed
+enemy.
+
+The means which suggested itself to Isdigerd as the simplest and most
+natural was, as above observed, the conversion of the Armenians to the
+Zoroastrian religion. In the early part of his reign he entertained
+a hope of effecting his purpose by persuasion, and sent his vizier,
+Mihr-Narses, into the country, with orders to use all possible peaceful
+means--gifts, blandishments, promises, threats, removal of malignant
+chiefs--to induce Armenia to consent to a change of religion.
+Mihr-Narses did his best, but failed signally. He carried off the chiefs
+of the Christian party, not only from Armenia, but from Iberia and
+Albania, telling them that Isdigerd required their services against the
+Tatars, and forced them with their followers to take part in the Eastern
+war. He committed Armenia to the care of the Margrave, Vasag, a
+native prince who was well inclined to the Persian cause, and gave
+him instructions to bring about the change of religion by a policy of
+conciliation. But the Armenians were obstinate. Neither threats,
+nor promises, nor persuasions had any effect. It was in vain that
+a manifesto was issued, painting the religion of Zoroaster in the
+brightest colors, and requiring all persons to conform to it. It was
+to no purpose that arrests were made, and punishments threatened. The
+Armenians declined to yield either to argument or to menace; and no
+progress at all was made in the direction of the desired conversion.
+
+In the year A.D. 450, the patriarch Joseph, by the general desire of the
+Armenians, held a great assembly, at which it was carried by acclamation
+that the Armenians were Christians, and would continue such, whatever it
+might cost them. If it was hoped by this to induce Isdigerd to lay aside
+his proselytizing schemes, the hope was a delusion. Isdigerd retaliated
+by summoning to his presence the principal chiefs, viz., Vasag, the
+Margrave; the Sparapet, or commander-in-chief, Vartan, the Mamigonian;
+Vazten, prince of Iberia; Vatche, king of Albania, etc.; and having got
+them into his power, threatened them with immediate death, unless they
+at once renounced Christianity and made profession of Zoroastrianism.
+The chiefs, not having the spirit of martyrs, unhappily yielded, and
+declared themselves converts; whereupon Isdigerd sent them back to
+their respective countries, with orders to force everywhere on their
+fellow-countrymen a similar change of religion.
+
+Upon this, the Armenians and Iberians broke out in open revolt. Vartan,
+the Mamigonian, repenting of his weakness, abjured his new creed,
+resumed the profession of Christianity, and made his peace with Joseph,
+the patriarch. He then called the people to arms, and in a short time
+collected a force of a hundred thousand men. Three armies were formed,
+to act separately under different generals. One watched Azerbijan, or
+Media Atropatene, whence it was expected that their main attack would be
+made by the Persians; another, under Vartan, proceeded to the relief
+of Albania, where proceedings were going on similar to those which
+had driven Armenia into rebellion; the third, under Vasag, occupied a
+central position in Armenia, and was intended to move wherever danger
+should threaten. An attempt was at the same time made to induce the
+Roman emperor, Marcian, to espouse the cause of the rebels, and send
+troops to their assistance; but this attempt was unsuccessful. Marcian
+had but recently ascended the throne, and was, perhaps, scarcely fixed
+in his seat. He was advanced in years, and naturally unenterprising.
+Moreover, the position of affairs in Western Europe was such that
+Marcian might expect at any moment to be attacked by an overwhelming
+force of northern barbarians, cruel, warlike, and unsparing. Attila was
+in A.D. 451 at the height of his power; he had not yet been worsted
+at Chalons; and the terrible Huns, whom he led, might in a few months
+destroy the Western, and be ready to fall upon the Eastern empire.
+Armenia, consequently, was left to her own resources, and had to combat
+the Persians single-handed. Even so, she might probably have succeeded,
+have maintained her Christianity, or even recovered her independence,
+had her people been of one mind, and had no defection from the national
+cause manifested itself. But Vasag, the Marzpan, had always been
+half-hearted in the quarrel; and, now that the crisis was come, he
+determined on going wholly over to the Persians. He was able to carry
+with him the army which he commanded; and thus Armenia was divided
+against itself; and the chance of victory was well-nigh lost before the
+struggle had begun. When the Persians took the field they found half
+Armenia ranged upon their side; and, though a long and bloody contest
+followed, the end was certain from the beginning. After much desultory
+warfare, a great battle was fought in the sixteenth year of Isdigerd
+(A.D. 455 or 456) between the Christian Armenians on the one side, and
+the Persians, with their Armenian abettors, on the other. The Persians
+were victorious; Vartan, and his brother, Hemaiiag, were among the
+slain; and the patriotic party found that no further resistance was
+possible. The patriarch, Joseph, and the other bishops, were seized,
+carried off to Persia, and martyred. Zoroastrianism was enforced upon
+the Armenian nation. All accepted it, except a few, who either took
+refuge in the dominions of Rome, or fled to the mountain fastnesses of
+Kurdistan.
+
+The resistance of Armenia was scarcely overborne, when war once more
+broke out in the East, and Isdigerd was forced to turn his attention
+to the defence of his frontier against the aggressive Ephthalites, who,
+after remaining quiet for three or four years, had again flown to arms,
+had crossed the Oxus, and invaded Khorassan in force. On his first
+advance the Persian monarch was so far successful that the invading
+hordes seems to have retired, and left Persia to itself; but when
+Isdigerd, having resolved to retaliate, led his own forces into the
+Ephthalite country, they took heart, resisted him, and, having tempted
+him into an ambuscade, succeeded in inflicting upon him a severe defeat.
+Isdigerd was forced to retire hastily within his own borders, and to
+leave the honors of victory to his assailants, whose triumph must have
+encouraged them to continue year after year their destructive inroads
+into the north-eastern provinces of the empire.
+
+It was not long after the defeat which he suffered in this quarter that
+Isdigerd's reign came to an end. He died A.D. 457, after having held the
+throne for seventeen or (according to some) for nineteen years. He was
+a prince of considerable ability, determination, and courage. That his
+subjects called him "the Clement" is at first sight surprising, since
+clemency is certainly not the virtue that any modern writer would think
+of associating with his name. But we may assume from the application of
+the term that, where religious considerations did not come into play,
+he was fair and equitable, mild-tempered, and disinclined to harsh
+punishments. Unfortunately, experience tells us that natural mildness
+is no security against the acceptance of a bigot's creed; and, when a
+policy of persecution has once been adopted, a Trajan or a Valerian will
+be as unsparing as a Maximin or a Galerius. Isdigerd was a bitter and
+successful persecutor of Christianity, which he--for a time at any
+rate--stamped out, both from his own proper dominions, and from the
+newly-acquired province of Armenia. He would have preferred less violent
+means; but, when they failed, he felt no scruples in employing the
+extremest and severest coercion. He was determined on uniformity; and
+uniformity he secured, but at the cost of crushing a people, and so
+alienating them as to make it certain that they would, on the first
+convenient occasion, throw off the Persian yoke altogether.
+
+The coins of Isdigerd II. nearly resemble those of his father, Varahran
+V., differing only in the legend, and in the fact that the mural crown
+of Isdigerd is complete. The legend is remarkably short, being either
+_Masdisn kadi Tezdikerti_, or merely _Kadi Yezdikerti_--i.e. "the
+Ormazd-worshipping great Isdigerd;" or "Isdigord the Great." The
+coins are not very numerous, and have three mint-marks only, which are
+interpreted to mean "Khuzistan," "Ctesiphon," and "Nehavend." [PLATE
+XXI., Fig. 3.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXI.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+_Right of Succession disputed between the two Sons of Isdigerd II.,
+Perozes (or Firuz) and Hormisdas. Civil War for two years. Success of
+Perozes, through aid given him by the Ephthalites. Great Famine. Perozes
+declares War against the Ephthalites, and makes an Expedition into their
+Country. His ill success. Conditions of Peace granted him. Armenian
+Revolt and War. Perozes, after some years, resumes the Ephthalite War.
+His attack fails, and he is slain in battle. Summary of his Character.
+Coins of Hormisdas III. and Perozes. Vase of Perozes._
+
+
+On the death of Isdigerd II. (A.D. 457) the throne was seized by his
+younger son Hormisdas, who appears to have owed his elevation, in a
+great measure, to the partiality of his father. That monarch, preferring
+his younger son above his elder, had made the latter governor of the
+distant Seistan, and had thus removed him far from the court, while he
+retained Hormisdas about his own person. The advantage thus secured to
+Hormisdas enabled him when his father died to make himself king; and
+Perozes was forced, we are told, to fly the country, and place himself
+under the protection of the Ephthalite monarch, who ruled in the valley
+of the Oxus, over Bactria, Tokaristan, Badakshan, and other neighboring
+districts. This king, who bore the name of Khush-newaz, received him
+favorably, and though at first, out of fear for the power of Persia, he
+declined to lend him troops, was induced after a while to adopt a bolder
+policy. Hormisdas, despite his epithet of Ferzan, "the Wise," was soon
+at variance with his subjects, many of whom gathered about Perozes
+at the court which he was allowed to maintain in Taleqan, one of
+the Ephthalite cities. Supported by this body of refugees, and by an
+Ephthalite contingent, Perozes ventured to advance against his brother.
+His army, which was commanded by a certain Raham, or Ram, a noble of the
+Mihran family, attacked the forces of Hormisdas, defeated them, and
+made Hormisdas himself a prisoner. The troops of the defeated monarch,
+convinced by the logic of success, deserted their late leader's cause,
+and went over in a body to the conqueror. Perozes, after somewhat more
+than two years of exile, was acknowledged as king by the whole Persian
+people, and, quitting Taleqan, established himself at Ctesiphon, or
+Al Modain, which had now become the main seat of government. It is
+uncertain what became of Hormisdas. According to the Armenian writers,
+Raham, after defeating him, caused him to be put to death; but the
+native historian, Mirkhond, declares that, on the contrary, Perozes
+forgave him for having disputed the succession, and amiably spared his
+life.
+
+The civil war between the two brothers, short as it was, had lasted long
+enough to cost Persia a province. Vatche, king of Aghouank (Albania)
+took advantage of the time of disturbance to throw off his allegiance,
+and succeeded in making himself independent. It was the first object
+of Perozes, after establishing himself upon the throne, to recover this
+valuable territory. He therefore made war upon Vatche, thought that
+prince was the son of his sister, and with the help of his Ephthalite
+allies, and of a body of Alans whom he took into his service, defeated
+the rebellious Albanians and completely subjugated the revolted country.
+
+A time of prosperity now ensued. Perozes ruled with moderation and
+justice. He dismissed his Ephthalite allies with presents that amply
+contented them, and lived for five years in great peace and honor. But
+in the seventh year, from the death of his father, the prosperity of
+Persia was suddenly and grievously interrupted by a terrible drought,
+a calamity whereto Asia has in all ages been subject, and which often
+produces the most frightful consequences. The crops fail; the earth
+becomes parched and burnt up; smiling districts are change into
+wildernesses; fountains and brooks cease to flow; then the wells have no
+water; finally even the great rivers are reduced to threads, and contain
+only the scantiest supply of the life-giving fluid in their channels.
+Famine under these circumstances of necessity sets in; the poor die by
+hundreds; even the rich have a difficulty in sustaining life by means of
+food imported from a distance. We are told that the drought in the reign
+of Perozes was such that at last there was not a drop of water either in
+the Tigris or the Oxus; all the sources and fountains, all the streams
+and brooks failed; vegetation altogether ceased; the beasts of the field
+and the fowls of the air perished; nowhere through the whole empire
+was a bird to be seen; the wild animals, even the reptiles, disappeared
+altogether. The dreadful calamity lasted for seven years, and under
+ordinary circumstances the bulk of the population would have been
+swept off; but such were the "wisdom and the beneficence of the Persian
+monarch," that during the entire duration of the scourge not a single
+person, or, according to another account, but one person, perished of
+hunger. Perozes began by issuing general orders that the rich should
+come to the relief of their poorer brethren; he required the governors
+of towns, and the head-men of villages, to see that food was supplied
+to those in need, and threatened that for each poor man in a town or
+village who died of want he would put a rich man to death. At the end of
+two years, finding that the drought continued, he declined to take any
+revenue from his subjects, remitting taxes of all kinds, whether they
+were money imposts or contributions in kind. In the fourth year, not
+content with these measures, he went further: opened the treasury doors
+and made distributions of money from his own stores to those in need. At
+the same time he imported corn from Greece, from India, from the valley
+of the Oxus, and from Abyssinia, obtaining by these means such ample
+supplies that he was able to furnish an adequate sustenance to all his
+subjects. The result was that not only did the famine cause no mortality
+among the poorer classes, but no one was even driven to quit the country
+in order to escape the pressure of the calamity.
+
+Such is the account which is given by the Oriental authors of the
+terrible famine which they ascribe to the early part of the reign of
+Perozes. It is difficult, however, to suppose that the matter has not
+been very much exaggerated, since we find that, as early as A.D. 464-5,
+when the famine should have been at its height, Perozes had entered upon
+a great war and was hotly engaged in it, his ambassadors at the same
+time being sent to the Greek court, not to ask supplies of food, but to
+request a subsidy on account of his military operations. The enemy which
+had provoked his hostility was the powerful nation of the Ephthalites,
+by whose aid he had so recently obtained the Persian crown. According to
+a contemporary Greek authority, more worthy of trust than most writers
+of his age and nation, the origin of the war was a refusal on the part
+of the Ephthalites to make certain customary payments which the Persians
+viewed in the light of a tribute. Perozes determined to enforce his just
+rights, and marched his troops against the defaulters with this object.
+But in his first operations he was unsuccessful, and after a time he
+thought it best to conclude the war, and content himself with taking a
+secret revenge upon his enemy, by means of an occult insult. He proposed
+to Khush-newaz to conclude a treaty of peace, and to strengthen the
+compact by adding to it a matrimonial alliance. Khush-newaz should take
+to wife one of his daughters, and thus unite the interests of the two
+reigning families. The proposal was accepted by the Ephthalite monarch;
+and he readily espoused the young lady who was sent to his court
+apparelled as became a daughter of Persia. In a little time, however, he
+found that he had been tricked: Perozes had not sent him his daughter,
+but one of his female slaves; and the royal race of the Ephthalite
+kings had been disgraced by a matrimonial union with a person of
+servile condition. Khush-newaz was justly indignant; but dissembled his
+feelings, and resolved to repay guile with guile. He wrote to Perozes
+that it was his intention to make war upon a neighboring tribe, and that
+he wanted officers of experience to conduct the military operations. The
+Persian monarch, suspecting nothing, complied with the request, and
+sent three hundred of his chief officers to Khush-newaz, who immediately
+seized them, put some to death, and, mutilating the remainder, commanded
+them to return to their sovereign, and inform him that the king of the
+Ephthalites now felt that he had sufficiently avenged the trick of which
+he had been the victim. On receiving this message Perozes renewed
+the war, advanced towards the Ephthalite country, and fixed his
+head-quarters in Hyrcania, at the city of Gurgan, He was accompanied by
+a Greek of the name of Eusebius, an ambassador from the Emperor Zeno,
+who took back to Constantinople the following account of the campaign.
+
+When Perozes, having invaded the Ephthalite territory, fell in with the
+army of the enemy, the latter pretended to be seized with a panic, and
+at once took to flight. The retreat was directed upon a portion of the
+mountain region, where a broad and good road led into a spacious
+plain, surrounded on all sides by wooded hills, steep and in places
+precipitous. Here the mass of the Ephthalite troops was cunningly
+concealed amid the foliage of the woods, while a small number,
+remaining visible, led the Persians into the cul-de-sac, the whole army
+unsuspectingly entering, and only learning their danger when they saw
+the road whereby they had entered blocked up by the troops from the
+hills. The officers then apprehended the true state of the case, and
+perceived that they had been cleverly entrapped; but none of them, it
+would seem, dared to inform the monarch that he had been deceived by
+a stratagem. Application was made to Eusebius, whose ambassadorial
+character would protect him from an outbreak, and he was requested to
+let Perozes know how he was situated, and exhort him to endeavor to
+extricate himself by counsel rather than by a desperate act. Eusebius
+upon this employed the Oriental method of apologue, relating to Perozes
+how a lion in pursuit of a goat got himself into difficulties, from
+which all his strength could not enable him to make his escape. Perozes
+apprehended his meaning, understood the situation, and, desisting from
+the pursuit, prepared to give battle where he stood. But the Ephthalite
+monarch had no wish to push matters to extremities. Instead of falling
+on the Persians from every side, he sent an embassy to Perozes and
+offered to release him from his perilous situation, and allow him to
+return with all his troops to Persia, if he would swear a perpetual
+peace with the Ephthalites and do homage to himself as his lord and
+master, by prostration. Perozes felt that he had no choice but to accept
+these terms, hard as he might think them. Instructed by the Magi, he
+made the required prostration at the moment of sunrise, with his face
+turned to the east, and thought thus to escape the humiliation of
+abasing himself before a mortal by the mental reservation that the
+intention of his act was to adore the great Persian divinity. He then
+swore to the peace, and was allowed to return with his army intact into
+Persia.
+
+It seems to have been soon after the conclusion of his disgraceful
+treaty that serious troubles once more broke out in Armenia. Perozes,
+following out the policy of his father, Isdigerd, incessantly persecuted
+the Christians of his northern provinces, especially those of Armenia,
+Georgia, and Albania. So severe were his measures that vast numbers of
+the Armenians quitted their country, and, placing themselves under the
+protection of the Greek Emperor, became his subjects, and entered into
+his service. Armenia was governed by Persian officials, and by apostate
+natives who treated their Christian fellow-countrymen with extreme
+rudeness, insolence, and injustice. Their efforts were especially
+directed against the few noble families who still clung to the faith
+of Christ, and had not chosen to expatriate themselves. Among these the
+most important was that of the Mamigonians, long celebrated in Armenian
+history, and at this time reckoned chief among the nobility. The
+renegades sought to discredit this family with the Persians; and Vahan,
+son of Hemaiiag, its head, found himself compelled to visit, once and
+again, the court of Persia, in order to meet the charges of his enemies
+and counteract the effect of their calumnies. Successful in vindicating
+himself, and received into high favor by Perozes, he allowed the
+sunshine of prosperity to extort from him what he had guarded firmly
+against all the blasts of persecution--to please his sovereign, he
+formally abjured the Christian faith, and professed himself a disciple
+of Zoroaster. The triumph of the anti-Christian party seemed now
+secured; but exactly at this point a reaction set in. Vahan became a
+prey to remorse, returned secretly to his old creed and longed for an
+opportunity of wiping out the shame of his apostasy by perilling his
+life for the Christian cause. The opportunity was not long in presenting
+itself. In A.D. 481 Perozes suffered a defeat at the hand of the
+barbarous Koushans, who held at this time the low Caspian tract
+extending from Asterabad to Derbend. Iberia at once revolted, slew its
+Zoroastrian king, Vazken, and placed a Christian, Vakhtang, upon the
+throne. The Persian governor of Armenia, having received orders to quell
+the Iberian rebellion, marched with all the troops that he could muster
+into the northern province, and left the Armenians free to follow their
+own devices. A rising immediately took place. Vahan at first endeavored
+to check the movement, being doubtful of the power of Armenia to cope
+with Persia, and feeling sure that the aid of the Greek emperor could
+not be counted on. But the the popular enthusiasm overleaped all
+resistance; everywhere the Christian party rushed to arms, and swore
+to free itself; the Persians with their adherents fled the country;
+Artaxata, the capital, was besieged and taken; the Christians were
+completely victorious, and, having made themselves masters of all
+Persarmenia, proceeded to establish a national government, placing at
+their head as king, Sahag, the Bagratide, and appointing Vahan, the
+Mamigonian, to be Sparapet, or "Commander-in-Chief."
+
+Intelligence of these events recalled the Persian governor,
+Ader-Veshnasp, from Iberia. Returning into his province at the head
+of an army of no great size, composed of Atropatenians, Medes, and
+Cadusians, he was encountered by Vasag, a brother of Vahan, on the river
+Araxes, with a small force, and was completely defeated and slain.
+
+Thus ended the campaign of A.D. 481. In A.D. 482 the Persians made a
+vigorous attempt to recover their lost ground by sending two armies,
+one under Ader-Nerseh against Armenia, and the other under Mihran into
+Iberia. Vahan met the army of Ader-Nerseh in the plain of Ardaz, engaged
+it, and defeated it after a sharp struggle, in which the king, Sahag,
+particularly distinguished himself. Mihran was opposed by Vakhtang,
+the Iberian king, who, however, soon found himself overmatched, and was
+forced to apply to Armenia for assistance. The Armenians came to his aid
+in full force; but their generosity was ill rewarded. Vakhtang plotted
+to make his peace with Persia by treacherously betraying his allies into
+their enemies' hands; and the Armenians, forced to fight at tremendous
+disadvantage, suffered a severe defeat. Sahag, the king, and Vasag, one
+of the brothers of Vahan, were slain; Vahan himself escaped, but at the
+head of only a few followers, with whom he fled to the highland district
+of Daik, on the borders of Home and Iberia. Here he was "hunted upon
+the mountains" by Mihran, and would probably have been forced to succumb
+before the year was out, had not the Persian general suddenly received
+a summons from his sovereign, who needed his aid against the Roushans
+of the low Caspian region. Mihran, compelled to obey this call, had to
+evacuate Armenia, and Vahan in a few weeks recovered possession of the
+whole country.
+
+The year A.D. 483 now arrived, and another desperate attempt was made
+to crush the Armenian revolt. Early in the spring a Persian army invaded
+Armenia, under a general called Hazaravougd. Vahan allowed himself to be
+surprised, to be shut up in the city of Dovin, and to be there besieged.
+After a while he made his escape, and renewed the guerilla warfare in
+which he was an adept; but the Persians recovered most of the country,
+and he was himself, on more than one occasion, driven across the border
+and obliged to seek refuge in Roman Armenia, whither his adversary
+had no right to follow him. Even here, however, he was not safe.
+Hazaravougd, at the risk of a rupture with Rome, pursued his flying foe
+across the frontier; and Vahan was for some time in the greatest danger.
+But the Persian system of constantly changing the commands of their
+chief officers saved him. Hazaravougd received orders from the court to
+deliver up Armenia to a newly appointed governor, named Sapor, and to
+direct his own efforts to the recovery of Iberia, which was still
+in insurrection. In this latter enterprise he was successful; Iberia
+submitted to him; and Vakhtang fled to Colchis. But in Armenia the
+substitution of Sapor for Hazaravougd led to disaster. After a vain
+attempt to procure the assassination of Vahan by two of his officers,
+whose wives were Roman prisoners, Sapor moved against him with a strong
+body of troops; but the brave Mamigonian, falling upon his assailant
+unawares, defeated him with great loss, and dispersed his army. A second
+battle was fought with a similar result; and the Persian force, being
+demoralized, had to retreat; while Vajian, taking the offensive,
+established himself in Dovin, and once more rallied to his side the
+great mass of the nation. Affairs were in this state, when suddenly
+there arrived from the east intelligence of the most supreme importance,
+which produced a pause in the Armenian conflict and led to the placing
+of Armenian affairs on a new footing.
+
+Perozes had, from the conclusion of his treaty with the Ephthalite
+monarch (ab. A.D. 470), been tormented with the feeling that he had
+suffered degradation and disgrace. He had, perhaps, plunged into the
+Armenian and other wars in the hope of drowning the recollection of his
+shame, in his own mind as well as in the minds of others. But fortune
+had not greatly smiled on him in these struggles; and any credit that
+he obtained from them was quite insufficient to produce forgetfulness
+of his great disaster. Hence, as time went on, he became more and more
+anxious to wipe out the memory of the past by a great and signal victory
+over his conquerors. He therefore after some years determined to renew
+the war. It was in vain that the chief Mobed opposed himself to this
+intention; it was in vain that his other counsellors sought to dissuade
+him, that his general, Bahram, declared against the infraction of the
+treaty, and that the soldiers showed themselves reluctant to fight.
+Perozes had resolved, and was not to be turned from his resolution. He
+collected from all parts of the empire a veteran force, amounting, it
+is said, 50 to 100,000 men, and 500 elephants, placed the direction of
+affairs at the court in the hands of Balas (Palash), his son or brother,
+and then marched upon the north-eastern frontier, with the determination
+to attack and defeat the Ephthalites or perish in the attempt. According
+to some Oriental writers he endeavored to escape the charge of having
+falsified his engagements by a curious subterfuge. The exact terms of
+his oath to Khush-newaz, the Ephthalite king, had been that he would
+never march his forces past a certain pillar which that monarch had
+erected to mark the boundary line between the Persian and Ephthalite
+dominions. Perozes persuaded himself that he would sufficiently observe
+his engagement if he kept its letter; and accordingly he lowered
+the pillar, and placed it upon a number of cars, which were attached
+together and drawn by a train of fifty elephants, in front of his army.
+Thus, however deeply he invaded the Ephthalite country, he never "passed
+beyond" the pillar which he had sworn not to pass. In his own judgment
+he kept his vow, but not in that of his natural advisers. It is
+satisfactory to find that the Zoroastrian priesthood, speaking by the
+mouth of the chief Mobed, disclaimed and exposed the fallacy of this
+wretched casuistry.
+
+The Ephthalite monarch, on learning the intention of Perozes, prepared
+to meet his attack by stratagem. He had taken up his position in the
+plain near Balkh, and had there established his camp, resolved to await
+the coming of the enemy. During the interval he proceeded to dig a deep
+and broad trench in front of his whole position, leaving only a space
+of some twenty or thirty yards, midway in the work, untouched. Having
+excavated the trench, he caused it to be filled with water, and
+covered carefully with boughs of trees, reeds, and earth, so as to be
+undistinguishable from the general surface of the plain on which he was
+encamped. On the arrival of the Persians in his front, he first of all
+held a parley with Perozes, in which, after reproaching him with his
+ingratitude and breach of faith, he concluded by offering to renew the
+peace. Perozes scornfully refused; whereupon the Ephthalite prince hung
+on the point of a lance the broken treaty, and, parading it in front of
+the Persian troops, exhorted them to avoid the vengeance which was sure
+to fall on the perjured by deserting their doomed monarch. Upon this,
+half the army, we are told, retired; and Khush-newaz proceeded to effect
+the destruction of the remainder by means of the plan which he had so
+carefully prepared beforehand. He sent a portion of his troops across
+the ditch, with orders to challenge the Persians to an engagement, and,
+when the fight began, to fly hastily, and, returning within the ditch
+by the sound passage, unite themselves with the main army. The entire
+Persian host, as he expected, pursued the fugitives, and coming unawares
+upon the concealed trench plunged into it, was inextricably entangled,
+and easily destroyed. Perozes himself, several of his sons, and most of
+his army perished. Mruz-docht, his daughter, the chief Mobed, and great
+numbers of the rank and file were made prisoners. A vast booty was
+taken. Khush-newaz did not tarnish the glory of his victory by any
+cruelties; he treated the captives tenderly, and caused search to be
+made for the body of Perozes, which was found and honorably interred.
+
+Thus perished Perozes, after a reign of (probably) twenty-six years.
+He was undoubtedly a brave prince, and entitled to the epithet of Al
+Merdaneh, "the Courageous," which he received from his subjects. But
+his bravery, unfortunately, verged upon rashness, and was unaccompanied
+(so far as appears) by any other military quality. Perozes had neither
+the sagacity to form a good plan of campaign, nor the ability to conduct
+a battle. In all the wars wherein he was personally engaged he was
+unsuccessful, and the only triumphs which gilded his arms wore gained by
+his generals. In his civil administration, on the contrary, he obtained
+a character for humanity and justice; and, if the Oriental accounts
+of his proceedings during the great famine are to be regarded as
+trustworthy, we must admit that his wisdom and benevolence were such as
+are not commonly found in those who bear rule in the East. His conduct
+towards Khush-newaz has generally been regarded as the great blot upon
+his good fame; and it is certainly impossible to justify the paltry
+casuistry by which he endeavored to reconcile his actions with his words
+at the time of his second invasion. But his persistent hostility towards
+the Ephthalites is far from inexcusable, and its motive may have been
+patriotic rather than personal. He probably felt that the Ephthalite
+power was among those from which Persia had most to fear, and that it
+would have been weak in him to allow gratitude for a favor conferred
+upon himself to tie his hands in a matter where the interests of his
+country were vitally concerned. The Ephthalites continued for nearly a
+century more to be among the most dangerous of her neighbors to Persia;
+and it was only by frequent attacks upon them in their own homes
+that Persia could reasonably hope to ward off their ravages from her
+territory.
+
+It is doubtful whether we possess any coins of Hormisdas III., the
+brother and predecessor of Perozes. Those which are assigned to him by
+Mordtmann bear a name which has no resemblance to his; and those bearing
+the name of Ram, which Mr. Taylor considers to be coins of Hormisdas,
+cannot have been issued under his authority, since Ram was the
+guardian and general, not of Hormisdas, but of his brother. Perhaps the
+remarkable specimen figured by M. Longperier in his valuable work, which
+shows a bull's head in place of the usual inflated ball, may really
+belong to this prince. The legend upon it is read without any doubt
+as Auhrimazd, or "Hormisdas;" and in general character it is certainly
+Sassanian, and of about this period. [PLATE XXI., Fig. 5.]
+
+The coins of Perozes are undoubted, and are very numerous. They are
+distinguished generally by the addition to the ordinary crown of two
+wings, one in front of the crown, and the other behind it, and bear the
+legend, _Kadi Piruzi_, or _Mazdisn Kadi Piruzi_, i.e., "King Perozes,"
+or "the Ormazd-worshipping king Perozes." The earring of the monarch
+is a triple pendant. On the reverse, besides the usual fire-altar
+and supporters, we see on either side of the altar-flame a star and
+a crescent. The legend here is M--probably for malka, "king"--or
+else Kadi, together with a mint-mark. The mints named are numerous,
+comprising (according to Mordtmann) Persepolis, Ispahan, Rhages,
+Nehavend, Darabgherd, Zadracarta, Nissa, Behistun, Chuzistan, Media,
+Kerman, and Azerbijan; or (according to Mr. Thomas) Persepolis, Rasht,
+Nehavend, Darabgherd, Baiza, Modai'n, Merv, Shiz, Iran, Kerman, Yezd,
+and fifteen others. The general character of the coinage is rude and
+coarse, the reverse of the coins showing especial signs of degradation.
+[PLATE XXI., Fig. 6.]
+
+Besides his coins, one other memorial of the reign of Perozes has
+escaped the ravages of time. This is a cup or vase, of antique and
+elegant form, engraved with a hunting-scene, which has been thus
+described by a recent writer: "This cup, which comes from Russia, has
+a diameter of thirty-one centimetres, and is shaped like a ewer without
+handles. At the bottom there stands out in relief the figure of a
+monarch on horseback, pursuing at full speed various wild animals;
+before him fly a wild boar and wild sow, together with their young, an
+ibex, an antelope, and a buffalo. Two other boars, an ibex, a buffalo,
+and an antelope are strewn on the ground, pierced with arrows. The king
+has an aquiline nose, an eye which is very wide open, a short beard,
+horizontal moustaches of considerable length, the hair gathered behind
+the head in quite a small knot, and the ear ornamented with a double
+pendant, pear-shaped; the head of the monarch supports a crown, which
+is mural at the side and back, while it bears a crescent in front; two
+wings surmounting a globe within a crescent form the upper part of the
+head-dress. On his right the king carries a short dagger and a quiver
+full of arrows, on his left a sword. Firuz, who has the finger-guard
+of an archer on his right hand, is represented in the act of bending a
+large bow made of horn." There would seem to be no doubt that the work
+thus described is rightly assigned to Perozes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+_Accession of Balas or Palash. His Relationship to Perozes. Peace made
+with the Ephthalites. Pacification of Armenia and General Edict of
+Toleration. Revolt of Zareh, Son of Perozes, and Suppression of
+the Revolt with the help of the Armenians. Flight of Kobad to the
+Ephthalites. Further Changes in Armenia. Vahan made Governor. Death of
+Balas; his Character. Coins ascribed to him._
+
+
+Perozes was succeeded by a prince whom the Greeks call Balas, the Arabs
+and later Persians Palash, but whose real name appears to have been
+Valakhesh or Volagases. Different accounts are given of his relationship
+to his predecessor, the native writers unanimously representing him
+as the son of Perozes and brother of Kobad, while the Greeks and the
+contemporary Armenians declare with one voice that he was Kobad's uncle
+and Perozes's brother. It seems on the whole most probable that the
+Greeks and Armenians are right and we may suppose that Perozes, having
+no son whom he could trust to take his place when he quitted his capital
+in order to take the management of the Ephthalite war, put the regency
+and the guardianship of his children into the hands of his brother,
+Valakhesh, who thus, not unnaturally, became king when it was found that
+Perozes had fallen.
+
+The first efforts of the new monarch were of necessity directed towards
+an arrangement with the Ephthalites, whose signal victory over Perozes
+had laid the north-eastern frontier of Persia open to their attack.
+Balas, we are told, employed on this service the arms and arts of
+an officer named Sukhra or Sufraii, who was at the time governor of
+Seistan. Sukhra collected an imposing force, and conducted it to the
+Ephthalite border, where he alarmed Khush-newaz by a display of his own
+skill with the bow. He then entered into negotiations and obtained the
+release of Firuz-docht, of the Grand Mobed, and of the other important
+prisoners, together with the restoration of a large portion of the
+captured booty, but was probably compelled to accept on the part of his
+sovereign some humiliating conditions. Procopius informs us that, in
+consequence of the defeat of Perozes, Persia became subject to the
+Ephthalites and paid them tribute for two years; and this is so probable
+a result, and one so likely to have been concealed by the native
+writers, that his authority must be regarded as outweighing the silence
+of Mirkhond and Tabari. Balas, we must suppose, consented to become an
+Ephthalite tributary, rather than renew the war which had proved fatal
+to his brother. If he accepted this position, we can well understand
+that Khush-newaz would grant him the small concessions of which the
+Persian writers boast; while otherwise the restoration of the booty and
+the prisoners without a battle is quite inconceivable.
+
+Secure, so long as he fulfilled his engagements, from any molestation in
+this quarter, Balas was able to turn his attention to the north-western
+portion of his dominions, and address himself to the difficult task of
+pacifying Armenia, and bringing to an end the troubles which had now
+for several years afflicted that unhappy province. His first step was
+to nominate as Marzpan, or governor, of Armenia, a Persian who bore
+the name of Nikhor, a man eminent for justice and moderation. Nikhor,
+instead of attacking Vahan, who held almost the whole of the country,
+since the Persian troops had been withdrawn on the news of the death
+of Perozes, proposed to the Armenian prince that they should discuss
+amicably the terms upon which his nation would be content to end the war
+and resume its old position of dependence upon Persia. Vahan expressed
+his willingness to terminate the struggle by an arrangement, and
+suggested the following as the terms on which he and his adherents would
+be willing to lay down their arms:
+
+(1) The existing fire-altars should be destroyed, and no others should
+be erected in Armenia.
+
+(2) The Armenians should be allowed the full and free exercise of the
+Christian religion, and no Armenians should be in future tempted or
+bribed to declare themselves disciples of Zoroaster.
+
+(3) If converts were nevertheless made from Christianity to
+Zoroastrianism, places should not be given to them.
+
+(4) The Persian king should in person, and not by deputy, administer the
+affairs of Armenia. Nikhor expressed himself favorable to the acceptance
+of these terms; and, after an exchange of hostages, Vahan visited his
+camp and made arrangements with him for the solemn ratification of peace
+on the aforesaid conditions. An edict of toleration was issued, and it
+was formally declared that "every one should be at liberty to adhere to
+his own religion, and that no one should be driven to apostatize." Upon
+these terms peace was concluded between Vahan and Nikhor, and it was
+only necessary that the Persian monarch should ratify the terms for them
+to become formally binding.
+
+While matters were in this state, and the consent of Balas to the
+terms agreed upon had not yet been positively signified, an important
+revolution took place at the court of Persia. Zareh, a son of Perozes,
+preferred a claim to the crown, and was supported in his attempt by a
+considerable section of the people. A civil war followed; and among the
+officers employed to suppress it was Nikhor, the governor of Armenia. On
+his appointment he suggested to Vahan that it would lend great force to
+the Armenian claims if under the existing circumstances the Armenians
+would furnish effective aid to Balas, and so enable him to suppress the
+rebellion. Vahan saw the importance of the conjuncture, and immediately
+sent to Nikhor's aid a powerful body of cavalry under the command of his
+own nephew, Gregory. Zareh was defeated, mainly in consequence of the
+great valor and excellent conduct of the Armenian contingent. He fled
+to the mountains, but was pursued, and was very shortly afterwards made
+prisoner and slain.
+
+Soon after this, Kobad, son of Perozes, regarding the crown as
+rightfully his, put forward a claim to it, but, meeting with no success,
+was compelled to quit Persia and throw himself upon the kind protection
+of the Ephthalites, who were always glad to count among their refugees a
+Persian pretender. The Ephthalites, however, made no immediate stir--it
+would seem, that so long as Balas paid his tribute they were content,
+and felt no inclination to disturb what seemed to them a satisfactory
+arrangement.
+
+The death of Zareh and the flight of Kobad left Balas at liberty to
+resume the work which their rebellions had interrupted--the complete
+pacification of Armenia. Knowing how much depended upon Vahan, he
+summoned him to his court, received him with the highest honors,
+listened attentively to his representations, and finally agreed to the
+terms which Vahan had formulated. At the same time he replaced Nikhor
+by a governor named Antegan, a worthy successor, "mild, prudent, and
+equitable;" and, to show his confidence in the Mamigonian prince,
+appointed him to the high office of Commander-in-Chief, or "Sparapet."
+This arrangement did not, however, last long. Antegan, after ruling
+Armenia for a few months, represented to his royal master that it would
+be the wisest course to entrust Vahan with the government, that the same
+head which had conceived the terms of the pacification might watch over
+and ensure their execution. Antegan's recommendation approved itself
+to the Persian monarch, who proceeded to recall his self-denying
+councillor, and to install Vahan in the vacant office. The post of
+Sparapet was assigned to Vart, Vahan's brother. Christianity was then
+formally reestablished as the State religion of Armenia; the fire-altars
+were destroyed; the churches reclaimed and purified; the hierarchy
+restored to its former position and powers. A reconversion of almost
+the whole nation to the Christian faith was the immediate result; the
+apostate Armenians recanted their errors, and abjured Zoroastrianism;
+Armenia, and with it Iberia, were pacified; and the two provinces which
+had been so long a cause of weakness to Persia grew rapidly into main
+sources of her strength and prosperity.
+
+The new arrangement had not been long completed when Balas died (A.D.
+487). It is agreed on all hands that he held the throne for no more than
+four years, and generally allowed that he died peaceably by a natural
+death. He was a wise and just prince, mild in his temper, averse to
+military enterprises, and inclined to expect better results from pacific
+arrangements than from wars and expeditions. His internal administration
+of the empire gave general satisfaction to his subjects; he protected
+and relieved the poor, extended cultivation, and punished governors who
+allowed any men in their province to fall into indigence. His prudence
+and moderation are especially conspicuous in his arrangement of the
+Armenian difficulty, whereby he healed a chronic sore that had long
+drained, the resources of his country. His submission to pay tribute
+to the Ephthalites may be thought to indicate a want of courage or
+of patriotism; but there are times when the purchase of a peace is
+a necessity; and it is not clear that Balas was minded to bear the
+obligation imposed on him a moment longer than was necessary. The
+writers who record the fact that Persia submitted for a time to pay a
+tribute limit the interval during which the obligation held to a couple
+of years. It would seem, therefore, that Balas, who reigned four years,
+must, a year at least before his demise, have shaken off the Ephthalite
+yoke and ceased to make any acknowledgment of dependence. Probably it
+was owing to the new attitude assumed by him that the Ephthalites,
+after refusing to give Kobad any material support for the space of three
+years, adopted a new policy in the year of Balas's death (A.D. 487), and
+lent the pretender a force with which he was about to attack his uncle
+when news reached him that attack was needless, since Balas was dead and
+his own claim to the succession undisputed. Balas nominated no successor
+upon his death-bed, thus giving in his last moments an additional proof
+of that moderation and love of peace which had characterized his reign.
+
+Coins, which possess several points of interest, are assigned to Balas
+by the best authorities. They bear on the obverse the head of the king
+with the usual mural crown surmounted by a crescent and inflated ball.
+The beard is short and curled. The hair falls behind the head, also
+in curls. The earring, wherewith the ear is ornamented, has a double
+pendent. Flames issue from the left shoulder, an exceptional peculiarity
+in the Sassanian series, but one which is found also among the
+Indo-Scythian kings with whom Balas was so closely connected. The full
+legend upon the coins appears to be _Hur Kadi Valdk-dshi,_ "Volagases,
+the Fire King." The reverse exhibits the usual fire-altar, but with
+the king's head in the flames, and with the star and crescent on
+either side, as introduced by Pe-rozes. It bears commonly the legend,
+_ValaJcdshi_, with a mint-mark. The mints employed are those of Iran,
+Kerman, Ispahan, Nisa, Ledan, Shiz, Zadracarta, and one or two others.
+[PLATE XXI., Fig. 4].
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+_First reign of Kobad. His Favorites, Sufral and Sapor. His Khazar War.
+Rise, Teaching, and influence of Mazdak. His Claim to Miraculous
+Powers. Kobad adopts the new Religion, and attempts to impose it on
+the Armenians. Revolt of Armenia under Vahan, successful. Kobad yields.
+General Rebellion in Persia, and Deposition of Kobad. Escape of Mazdak.
+Short Reign of Zamasp. His Coins._
+
+
+When Kobad fled to the Ephthalites on the failure of his attempt to
+seize the crown, he was received, we are told, with open arms; but no
+material aid was given to him for the space of three years. However, in
+the fourth year of his exile, a change came over the Ephthalite policy,
+and he returned to his capital at the head of an army, with which
+Khush-newaz had furnished him. The change is reasonably connected with
+the withholding of his tribute by Balas; and it is difficult to suppose
+that Kobad, when he accepted Ephthalite aid, did not pledge himself to
+resume the subordinate position which his uncle had been content to hold
+for two years. It seems certain that he was accompanied to his capital
+by an Ephthalite contingent, which he richly rewarded before dismissing
+it. Owing his throne to the aid thus afforded him, he can scarcely have
+refused to make the expected acknowledgment. Distinct evidence on the
+point is wanting; but there can be little doubt that for some years
+Kobad held the Persian throne on the condition of paying tribute to
+Khush-newaz, and recognizing him as his lord paramount.
+
+During the early portion of his first reign, which extended from A.D.
+487 to 498, we are told that he entrusted the entire administration of
+affairs to Suklira, or Sufrai, who had been the chief minister of his
+uncle. Sufrai's son, Zer-Mihr, had faithfully adhered to him throughout
+the whole period of his exile, and Kobad did not regard it as a crime
+that the father had opposed his ambition, and thrown the weight of
+his authority into the scale against him. He recognized fidelity as
+a quality that deserved reward, and was sufficiently magnanimous to
+forgive an opposition that had sprung from a virtuous motive, and,
+moreover, had not succeeded. Sufrai accordingly governed Persia for some
+years; the army obeyed him, and the civil administration was completely
+in his hands. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that Kobad
+after a while grew jealous of his subordinate, and was anxious to strip
+him of the quasi-regal authority which he exercised and assert his own
+right to direct affairs. But, alone, he felt unequal to such a task. He
+therefore called in the assistance of an officer who bore the name of
+Sapor, and had a command in the district of Rhages. Sapor undertook to
+rid his sovereign of the incubus whereof he complained, and, with the
+tacit sanction of the monarch, he contrived to fasten a quarrel on
+Sufrai which he pushed to such an extremity that, at the end of it,
+he dragged the minister from the royal apartment to a prison, had him
+heavily ironed, and in a few days caused him to be put to death.
+Sapor, upon this, took the place previously occupied by Sufrai; he
+was recognized at once as Prime Minister, and Sipehbed, or
+commander-in-chief of the troops. Kobad, content to have vindicated his
+royal power by the removal of Sufrai, conceded to the second favorite
+as much as he had allowed to the first, and once more suffered the
+management of affairs to pass wholly into the hands of a subject.
+
+The only war in which Persia seems to have been engaged during the first
+reign of Kobad was one with the Khazars. This important people,
+now heard of for the first time in Persian history, appears to have
+occupied, in the reign of Kobad, the steppe country between the Wolga
+and the Don, whence they made raids through the passes of the Caucasus
+into the fertile provinces of Iberia, Albania, and Armenia. Whether
+they were Turks, as is generally believed, or Circassians, as has been
+ingeniously argued by a living writer, is doubtful; but we cannot be
+mistaken in regarding them as at this time a race of fierce and terrible
+barbarians, nomadic in their habits, ruthless in their wars, cruel and
+uncivilized in their customs, a fearful curse to the regions which they
+overrun and desolated. We shall meet with them again, more than once,
+in the later history, and shall have to trace to their hostility some of
+the worst disasters that befel the Persian arms. On this occasion it
+is remarkable that they were repulsed with apparent ease. Kobad marched
+against their Khan in person, at the head of a hundred thousand men,
+defeated him in a battle, destroyed the greater portion of his army,
+and returned to his capital with an enormous booty. To check their
+incursions, he is said to have built on the Armenian frontier a town
+called Amid, by which we are probably to understand, not the ancient
+Amida (or Diarbekr), but a second city of the name, further to the
+east and also further to the north, on the border line which separated
+Armenia from Iberia.
+
+The triumphant return of Kobad from his Khazar war might have seemed
+likely to secure him a long and prosperous reign; but at the moment when
+fortune appeared most to smile upon him, an insidious evil, which had
+been gradually but secretly sapping the vitals of his empire, made
+itself apparent, and, drawing the monarch within the sphere of its
+influence, involved him speedily in difficulties which led to the loss
+of his crown. Mazdak, a native of Persepolis, or, according to others,
+of Nishapur, in Khorassan, and an Archimagus, or High Priest of the
+Zoroastrian religion, announced himself, early in the reign of Kobad,
+as a reformer of Zoroastrianism, and began to make proselytes to the new
+doctrines which he declared himself commissioned to unfold. All men, he
+said, were, by God's providence, born equal--none brought into the
+world any property, or any natural right to possess more than another.
+Property and marriage were mere human inventions, contrary to the will
+of God, which required an equal division of the good things of this
+world among all, and forbade the appropriation of particular women by
+individual men. In communities based upon property and marriage, men
+might lawfully vindicate their natural rights by taking their fair share
+of the good things wrongfully appropriated by their fellows Adultery,
+incest, theft, were not really crimes, but necessary steps towards
+re-establishing the laws of nature in such societies. To these
+communistic views, which seem to have been the original speculations
+of his own mind, the Magian reformer added tenets borrowed from the
+Brahmins or from some other Oriental ascetics, such as the sacredness
+of animal life, the necessity of abstaining from animal food, other than
+milk, cheese, or eggs, the propriety of simplicity in apparel, and the
+need of abstemiousness and devotion. He thus presented the spectacle of
+an enthusiast who preached a doctrine of laxity and self-indulgence,
+not from any base or selfish motive, but simply from a conviction of its
+truth. We learn without surprise that the doctrines of the new teacher
+were embraced with ardor by large classes among the Persians, by the
+young of all ranks, by the lovers of pleasure, by the great bulk of
+the lower orders. But it naturally moves our wonder that among the
+proselytes to the new religion was the king. Kobad, who had nothing to
+gain from embracing a creed which levelled him with his subjects, and
+was scarcely compatible with the continuance of monarchical rule, must
+have been sincere in his profession; and we inquire with interest, what
+were the circumstances which enabled Mazdak to attach to his cause so
+important and so unlikely a convert.
+
+The explanation wherewith we are furnished by our authorities is,
+that Mazdak claimed to authenticate his mission by the possession and
+exhibition of miraculous powers. In order to impose on the weak mind
+of Kobad he arranged and carried into act an elaborate and clever
+imposture. He excavated a cave below the fire-altar, on which he was in
+the habit of offering, and contrived to pass a tube from the cavern to
+the upper surface of the altar, where the sacred flame was maintained
+perpetually. Having then placed a confederate in the cavern, he invited
+the attendance of Kobad, and in his presence appeared to hold converse
+with the fire itself, which the Persians viewed as the symbol and
+embodiment of divinity. The king accepted the miracle as an absolute
+proof of the divine authority of the new teacher, and became thenceforth
+his zealous adherent and follower.
+
+It may be readily imagined that the conversion of the monarch to such a
+creed was, under a despotic government, the prelude to disorders, which
+soon became intolerable. Not content with establishing community of
+property and of women among themselves, the sectaries claimed the
+right to plunder the rich at their pleasure, and to carry off for the
+gratification of their own passions the inmates of the most illustrious
+harems. In vain did the Mobeds declare that the new religion was false,
+was monstrous, ought not to be tolerated for an hour. The followers of
+Mazdak had the support of the monarch, and this protection secured them
+complete impunity. Each day they grew bolder and more numerous. Persia
+became too narrow a field for their ambition, and they insisted on
+spreading their doctrines into the neighboring countries. We find traces
+of the acceptance of their views in the distant West; and the historians
+of Armenia relate that in that unhappy country they so pressed their
+religion upon the people that an insurrection broke out, and Persia
+was in danger of losing, by intolerance, one of her most valued
+dependencies.
+
+Vatian, the Mamigonian, who had been superseded in his office by a fresh
+Marzpan, bent on forcing the Armenians to adopt the new creed, once more
+put himself forward as his country's champion, took arms in defence
+of the Christian faith, and endeavored to induce the Greek emperor,
+Anastasius, to accept the sovereignty of Persarmenia, together with
+the duty of protecting it against its late masters. Fear of the
+consequences, if he provoked the hostility of Persia, caused Anastasius
+to hesitate; and things might have gone hardly with the unfortunate
+Armenians, had not affairs in Persia itself come about this time to a
+crisis.
+
+The Mobeds and the principal nobles had in vain protested against the
+spread of the new religion and the patronage lent it by the Court.
+At length appeal was made to the chief Mobed, and he was requested to
+devise a remedy for the existing evils, which were generally felt to
+have passed the limits of endurance. The chief Mobed decided that, under
+the circumstances of the time, no remedy could be effectual but the
+deposition of the head of the State, through whose culpable connivance
+the disorders had attained their height. His decision was received with
+general acquiescence. The Persian nobles agreed with absolute unanimity
+to depose Kobad, and to place upon the throne another member of the
+royal house. Their choice fell upon Zamasp, a brother of Kobad, who was
+noted for his love of justice and for the mildness of his disposition.
+The necessary arrangements having been made, they broke out into
+universal insurrection, arrested Kobad, and committed him to safe
+custody in the "Castle of Oblivion," proclaimed Zamasp, and crowned him
+king with all the usual formalities. An attempt was then made to deal
+the new religion a fatal blow by the seizure and execution of the
+heresiarch, Mazdak. But here the counter-revolution failed. Mazdak was
+seized indeed and imprisoned; but his followers rose at once, broke open
+his prison doors, and set him at liberty. The government felt itself too
+weak to insist on its intended policy of coercion. Mazdak was allowed
+to live in retirement unmolested, and to increase the number of his
+disciples.
+
+The reign of Zamasp appears to have lasted from A.D. 498 to A.D. 501,
+or between two and three years. He was urged by the army to put Kobad
+to death, but hesitated to adopt so extreme a course, and preferred
+retaining his rival as a prisoner. The "Castle of Oblivion" was regarded
+as a place of safe custody; but the ex-king contrived in a short time to
+put a cheat on his guards and effect his escape from confinement. Like
+other claimants of the Persian throne, he at once took refuge with the
+Ephthalites, and sought to persuade the Great Khan to embrace his cause
+and place an army at his disposal. The Khan showed himself more than
+ordinarily complaisant. He can scarcely have sympathized with the
+religious leanings of his suppliant; but he remembered that he had
+placed him upon the throne, and had found him a faithful feudatory and
+a quiet neighbor. He therefore received him with every mark of honor,
+betrothed him to one of his own daughters, and lent him an army of
+30,000 men. With this force Kobad returned to Persia, and offered battle
+to Zamasp. Zamasp declined the conflict. He had not succeeded in making
+himself popular with his subjects, and knew that a large party desired
+the return of his brother. It is probable that he did not greatly desire
+a throne. At any rate, when his brother reached the neighborhood of the
+capital, at the head of the 30,000 Ephthalites and of a strong body of
+Persian adherents, Zamasp determined upon submission. He vacated the
+throne in favor of Kobad, without risking the chance of a battle, and
+descended voluntarily into a private station. Different stories are told
+of his treatment by the restored monarch. According to Procopius, he
+was blinded after a cruel method long established among the Persians;
+but Mirkhond declares that he was pardoned, and even received from his
+brother marked signs of affection and favor.
+
+The coins of Zamasp have the usual inflated ball and mural crown, but
+with a crescent in place of the front limb of the crown. The ends of the
+diadem appear over the two shoulders. On either side of the head there
+is a star, and over either shoulder a crescent. Outside the encircling
+ring, or "pearl border," we see, almost for the first time, three stars
+with crescents. The reverse bears the usual fire-altar, with a star and
+crescent on either side of the flame. The legend is extremely brief,
+being either _Zamasp_ or _Bag Zamasp_, i.e. "Zamaspes," or "the divine
+Zamaspes." [PLATE XXII., Fig. 1.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXII.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+_Second Reign of Kobad. His Change of Attitude towards the Followers of
+Mazdak. His Cause of Quarrel with Rome. First Roman War of Kobad. Peace
+made A.D. 505. Rome fortifies Daras and Theodosiopolis. Complaint made
+by Persia. Negotiations of Kobad with Justin: Proposed Adoption of
+Chosroes by the Latter. Internal Troubles in Persia. Second Roman War of
+Kobad, A.D. 524-531. Death of Kobad. His Character. His coins._
+
+
+The second reign of Kobad covered a period of thirty years, extending
+from A.D. 501 to A.D. 531. He was contemporary, during this space, with
+the Roman emperors Anastasius, Justin, and Justinian, with Theodoric,
+king of Italy, with Cassiodorus, Symmachus, Boethius, Procopius, and
+Belisarius. The Oriental writers tell us but little of this portion of
+his history. Their silence, however, is fortunately compensated by the
+unusual copiousness of the Byzantines, who deliver, at considerable
+length, the entire series of transactions in which Kobad was engaged
+with the Constantinopolitan emperors, and furnish some interesting
+notices of other matters which occupied him. Procopius especially, the
+eminent rhetorician and secretary of Belisarius, who was born about the
+time of Kobad's restoration to the Persian thrones and became secretary
+to the great general four years before Kobad's death, is ample in his
+details of the chief occurrences, and deserves a confidence which the
+Byzantines can rarely claim, from being at once a contemporary and a man
+of remarkable intelligence. "His facts," as Gibbon well observes, "are
+collected from the personal experience and free conversation of a
+soldier, a statesman, and a traveller; his style continually aspires,
+and often attains, to the merit of strength and elegance; his,
+reflections, more especially in the speeches, which he too frequently
+inserts, contain a rich fund of political knowledge; and the historian,
+excited by the generous ambition of pleasing and instructing posterity,
+appears to disdain the prejudices of the people and the flattery of
+courts."
+
+The first question which Kobad had to decide, when, by the voluntary
+cession of his brother, Zamasp, he remounted his throne, was the
+attitude which he should assume towards Mazdak and his followers. By
+openly favoring the new religion and encouraging the disorders of its
+votaries, he had so disgusted the more powerful classes of his subjects
+that he had lost his crown and been forced to become a fugitive in a
+foreign country. He was not prepared to affront this danger a second
+time. Still, his attachment to the new doctrine was not shaken; he held
+the views propounded to be true, and was not ashamed to confess himself
+an unwavering adherent of the communistic prophet. He contrived,
+however, to reconcile his belief with his interests by separating the
+individual from the king. As a man, he held the views of Mazdak; but, as
+a king, he let it be known that he did not intend to maintain or support
+the sectaries in any extreme or violent measures. The result was that
+the new doctrine languished; Mazdak escaped persecution and continued to
+propagate his views; but, practically, the progress of the new opinions
+was checked; they had ceased to command royal advocacy, and had
+consequently ceased to endanger the State; they still fermented among
+the masses, and might cause trouble in the future; but for the present
+they were the harmless speculations of a certain number of enthusiasts
+who did not venture any more to carry their theories into practice.
+
+Kobad had not enjoyed the throne for more than a year before his
+relations with the great empire on his western frontier became troubled,
+and, after some futile negotiations, hostilities once more broke out. It
+appears that among the terms of the peace concluded in A.D. 442 between
+Isdigerd II. and the younger Theodosius, the Romans had undertaken
+to pay annually a certain sum of money as a contribution towards the
+expenses of a fortified post which the two powers undertook to maintain
+in the pass of Derbend, between the last spurs of the Caucasus and the
+Caspian. This fortress, known as Juroi-pach or Biraparach, commanded the
+usual passage by which the hordes of the north were accustomed to issue
+from their vast arid steppes upon the rich and populous regions of the
+south for the purpose of plundering raids, if not of actual conquests.
+Their incursions threatened almost equally Roman and Persian territory,
+and it was felt that the two nations were alike interested in preventing
+them. The original agreement was that both parties should contribute
+equally, alike to the building and to the maintaining of the fortress;
+but the Romans were so occupied in other wars that the entire burden
+actually fell upon the Persians. These latter, as was natural, made from
+time to time demands upon the Romans for the payment of their share of
+the expenses; but it seems that these efforts were ineffectual, and the
+debt accumulated. It was under these circumstances that Kobad. finding
+himself in want of money to reward adequately his Ephthalite allies,
+sent an embassy to Anastasius, the Roman emperor, with a peremptory
+demand for a remittance. The reply of Anastasius was a refusal.
+According to one authority he declined absolutely to make any payment;
+according to another, he expressed his willingness to lend his Persian
+brother a sum of money on receiving the customary acknowledgment, but
+refused an advance on any other terms. Such a response was a simple
+repudiation of obligations voluntarily contracted, and could scarcely
+fail to rouse the indignation of the Persian monarch. If he learned
+further that the real cause of the refusal was a desire to embroil
+Persia with the Ephthalites, and to advance the interests of Rome by
+leading her enemies to waste each other's strength in an internecine
+conflict, he may have admired the cunning of his rival, but can scarcely
+have felt the more amicably disposed towards him.
+
+The natural result followed. Kobad at once declared war. The two empires
+had now been uninterruptedly at peace for sixty, and, with the exception
+of a single campaign (that of A.D. 441), for eighty years. They had
+ceased to feel that respect for each other's arms and valor which
+experience gives, and which is the best preservative against wanton
+hostilities. Kobad was confident in his strength, since he was able
+to bring into the field, besides the entire force of Persia, a largo
+Ephthalite contingent, and also a number of Arabs. Anastasius, perhaps,
+scarcely thought that Persia would go to war on account of a pecuniary
+claim which she had allowed to be disregarded for above half a century.
+The resolve of Kobad evidently took him by surprise; but he had gone too
+far to recede. The Roman pride would not allow him to yield to a display
+of force what he had refused when demanded peacefully; and he was thus
+compelled to maintain by arms the position which he had assumed without
+anticipating its consequences.
+
+The war began by a sudden inroad of the host of Persia into Roman
+Armenia, where Theodosiopolis was still the chief stronghold and the
+main support of the Roman power. Unprepared for resistance, this city
+was surrendered after a short siege by its commandant, Constantine,
+after which the greater part of Armenia was overrun and ravaged. From
+Armenia Kobad conducted his army into Northern Mesopotamia, and formed
+the siege of Amida about the commencement of the winter. The great
+strength of Amida has been already noticed in this volume. Kobad found
+it ungarrisoned, and only protected by a small force, cantoned in its
+neighborhood, under the philosopher, Alypius. But the resolution of the
+townsmen, and particularly of the monks, was great; and a most strenuous
+resistance met all his efforts to take the place. At first his hope was
+to effect a breach in the defences by means of the ram; but the besieged
+employed the customary means of destroying his engines, and, where these
+failed, the strength and thickness of the walls was found to be
+such that no serious impression could be made on them by the Persian
+battering train. It was necessary to have recourse to some other device;
+and Kobad proceeded to erect a mound in the immediate neighborhood of
+the wall, with a view of dominating the town, driving the defenders from
+the battlements, and then taking the place by escalade. He raised an
+immense work; but it was undermined by the enemy, and at last fell in
+with a terrible crash, involving hundreds in its ruin. It is said that
+after this failure Kobad despaired of success, and determined to draw
+off his army; but the taunts and insults of the besieged, or confidence
+in the prophecies of the Magi, who saw an omen of victory in the
+grossest of all the insults, caused him to change his intention and
+still continue the siege. His perseverance was soon afterwards rewarded.
+A soldier discovered in the wall the outlet of a drain or sewer
+imperfectly blocked up with rubble, and, removing this during the
+night, found himself able to pass through the wall into the town. He
+communicated his discovery to Kobad, who took his measures accordingly.
+Sending, the next night, a few picked men through the drain, to seize
+the nearest tower, which happened to be slackly guarded by some sleepy
+monks, who the day before had been keeping festival, he brought the bulk
+of his troops with scaling ladders to the adjoining portion of the wall,
+and by his presence, exhortations, and threats, compelled them to force
+their way into the place. The inhabitants resisted strenuously, but were
+overpowered by numbers, and the carnage in the streets was great. At
+last an aged priest, shocked at the indiscriminate massacre, made bold
+to address the monarch himself and tell him that it was no kingly act to
+slaughter captives. "Why, then, did you elect to fight?" said the angry
+prince. "It was God's doing," replied the priest, astutely; "He willed
+that thou shouldest owe thy conquest of Amida, not to our weakness, but
+to thy own valor." The flattery pleased Kobad, and induced him to stop
+the effusion of blood; but the sack was allowed to continue; the whole
+town was pillaged; and the bulk of the inhabitants were carried off as
+slaves.
+
+The siege of Amida lasted eighty days, and the year A.D. 503 had
+commenced before it was over. Anastasius, on learning the danger of his
+frontier town, immediately despatched to its aid a considerable force,
+which he placed under four commanders--Areobindus, the grandson of the
+Gothic officer of the same name who distinguished himself in the Persian
+war of Theodosius; Celer, captain of the imperial guard; Patricius, the
+Phrygian; and Hypatius, one of his own nephews. The army, collectively,
+is said to have been more numerous than any that Rome had ever brought
+into the field against the Persians but it was weakened by the divided
+command, and it was moreover broken up into detachments which acted
+independently of each other. Its advent also was tardy. Not only did
+it arrive too late to save Amida, but it in no way interfered with the
+after-movements of Kobad, who, leaving a small garrison to maintain his
+new conquest, carried off the whole of his rich booty to his city of
+Nisibis, and placed the bulk of his troops in a good position upon
+his own frontier. When Areobindus, at the head of the first division,
+reached Amida and heard that the Persians had fallen back, he declined
+the comparatively inglorious work of a siege, and pressed forward,
+anxious to carry the war into Persian territory. He seems actually to
+have crossed the border and invaded the district of Arzanene, when
+news reached him that Kobad was marching upon him with all his troops,
+whereupon he instantly fled, and threw himself into Constantia, leaving
+his camp and stores to be taken by the enemy. Meanwhile another division
+of the Roman army, under Patrilcius and Hypatius, had followed in the
+steps of Areobindus, and meeting with the advance-guard of Kobad, which
+consisted of eight hundred Ephthalites, had destroyed it almost to a
+man.
+
+Ignorant, however, of the near presence of the main Persian army, this
+body of troops allowed itself soon afterwards to be surprised on the
+banks of a stream, while some of the men were bathing and others were
+taking their breakfast, and was completely cut to pieces by Kobad,
+scarcely any but the generals escaping.
+
+Thus far success had been wholly on the side of the Persians; and if
+circumstances had permitted Kobad to remain at the seat of war and
+continue to direct the operations of his troops in person, there is
+every to reason to believe that he would have gained still greater
+advantages. The Roman generals were incompetent; they were at variance
+among themselves; and they were unable to control the troops under their
+command. The soldiers were insubordinate, without confidence in their
+officers, and inclined to grumble at such an unwonted hardship as a
+campaign prolonged into the winter. Thus all the conditions of the war
+were in favor of Persia. But unfortunately for Kobad, it happened that,
+at the moment when his prospects were the fairest, a danger in another
+quarter demanded his presence, and required him to leave the conduct
+of the Roman war to others. An Ephthalite invasion called him to the
+defence of his north-eastern frontier before the year A.D. 503 was over,
+and from this time the operations in Mesopotamia were directed, not by
+the king in person, but by his generals. A change is at once apparent.
+In A.D. 504 Celer invaded Arzanene, destroyed a number of forts,
+and ravaged the whole province with fire and sword. Thence marching
+southward, he threated Nisibis, which is said, to have been within a
+little of yielding itself. Towards winter Patricius and Hypatius took
+heart, and, collecting an army, commenced the siege of Amida, which they
+attempted to storm on several occasions, but without success. After a
+while they turned the siege into a blockade, entrapped the commander of
+the, Persian garrison, Glones, by a stratagem, and reduced the defenders
+of the place to such distress that it would have been impossible to hold
+put much longer. It seems to have been when matters were at this
+point that an ambassador of high rank arrived from Kobad, empowered to
+conclude a peace, and instructed to declare his master's willingness
+to surrender all his conquests, including Amida, on the payment of
+a considerable sum of money. The Roman generals, regarding Amida as
+impregnable, and not aware of the exhaustion of its stores, gladly
+consented. They handed over to the Persians a thousand pounds' weight of
+gold, and received in exchange the captured city and territory. A treaty
+was signed by which the contracting powers undertook to remain at peace
+and respect each other's dominions for the space of seven years. No
+definite arrangement seems to have been made with respect to the yearly
+payment on account of the fortress, Birapa-rach, the demand for which
+had occasioned the war. This claim remained in abeyance, to be pressed
+or neglected, as Persia might consider her interests to require.
+
+The Ephthalite war, which compelled Kobad to make peace with Anastasius,
+appears to have occupied him uninterruptedly for ten years. During its
+continuance Rome took advantage of her rival's difficulties to continue
+the system (introduced under the younger Theodosius) of augmenting
+her own power, and crippling that of Persia, by establishing strongly
+fortified posts upon her border in the immediate vicinity of Persian
+territory. Not content with restoring Theodosiopolis and greatly
+strengthening it defences, Anastasius erected an entirely new fortress
+at Daras, on the southern skirts of the Mons Masius, within twelve miles
+of Nisibis, at the edge of the great Mesopotamian plain. This place was
+not a mere fort, but a city; it contained churches, baths, porticoes,
+large granaries, and extensive cisterns. It constituted a standing
+menace to Persia; and its erection was in direct violation of the treaty
+made by Theodosius with Isdigerd II., which was regarded as still in
+force by both nations.
+
+We cannot be surprised that Kobad, when his Ephthalite war was over,
+made formal complaint at Constantinople (ab. A.D. 517); of the infraction
+of the treaty. Anastasius was unable to deny the charge. He endeavored
+at first to meet it by a mixture of bluster with professions of
+friendship; but when this method did not appear effectual he had
+recourse to an argument whereof the Persians on most occasions
+acknowledged the force. By the expenditure of a large sum of money he
+either corrupted the ambassadors of Kobad, or made them honestly doubt
+whether the sum paid would not satisfy their master.
+
+In A.D. 518 Anastasius died, and the imperial authority was assumed by
+the Captain of the Guard, the "Dacian peasant," Justin. With him Kobad
+very shortly entered jinto negotiations. He had not, it is clear,
+accepted the pecuniary sacrifice of Anastasius as a complete
+satisfaction. He felt that he had many grounds of quarrel with the
+Romans, There was the old matter of the annual payment due on account
+of the fortress of Biraparach; there was the recent strengthening
+of Theodosiopolis, and building of Daras; there was moreover an
+interference of Rome at this time in the region about the Caucasus which
+was very galling to Persia and was naturally resented by her monarch.
+One of the first proceedings of Justin after he ascended the throne
+was to send an embassy with rich gifts to the court of a certain Hunnic
+chief of these parts, called Ziligdes or Zilgibis, and to conclude a
+treaty with him by which the Hun bound himself to assist the Romans
+against the Persians. Soon afterwards a Lazic prince, named Tzath, whose
+country was a Persian dependency, instead of seeking inauguration
+from Kobad, proceeded on the death of his father to the court of
+Constantinople, and expressed his wish to become a Christian, and to
+hold his crown as one of Rome's vassal monarchs. Justin gave this person
+a warm welcome, had him baptized, married him to a Roman lady of
+rank, and sent him back to Lazica adorned with a diadem and robes that
+sufficiently indicated his dependent position. The friendly relations
+established between Rome and Persia by the treaty of A.D. 505 were,
+under these circumstances, greatly disturbed, and on both sides it would
+seem that war was expected to break out. But neither Justin nor Kobad
+was desirous of a rupture. Both were advanced in years, and both had
+domestic troubles to occupy them. Kobad was at this time especially
+anxious about the succession. He had four sons, Kaoses, Zames,
+Phthasuarsas, and Chosroes, of whom Kaoses was the eldest. This prince,
+however, did not please him. His affections were fixed on his fourth
+son, Chosroes, and he had no object more at heart than to secure the
+crown for this favorite child. The Roman writers tell us that instead
+of resenting the proceedings of Justin in the years A.D. 520-522, Kobad
+made the strange proposal to him about this time that he should adopt
+Chosroes, in order that that prince might have the aid of the Romans
+against his countrymen, if his right of succession should be disputed.
+It is, no doubt, difficult to believe that such a proposition should
+have been made; but the circumstantial manner in which Procopius,
+writing not forty years after, relates the matter, renders it almost
+impossible for us to reject the story as a pure fabrication. There must
+have been some foundation for it. In the negotiations between Justin and
+Kobad during the early years of the former, the idea of Rome pledging
+herself to acknowledge Chosroes as his father's successor must have been
+brought forward. The proposal, whatever its exact terms, led however to
+no result. Rome declined to do as Kobad desired; and thus another ground
+of estrangement was added to those which had previously made the renewal
+of the Roman war a mere question of time.
+
+It is probable that the rupture would have occurred earlier than it did
+had not Persia about the year A.D. 523 become once more the scene of
+religious discord and conspiracy. The followers of Mazdak had been
+hitherto protected by Kobad, and had lived in peace and multiplied
+throughout all the provinces of the empire. Content with the toleration
+which they enjoyed, they had for above twenty years created no
+disturbance, and their name had almost disappeared from the records of
+history. But as time went on they began to feel that their position was
+insecure. Their happiness, their very safety, depended upon a single
+life; and as Kobad advanced in years they grew to dread more and more
+the prospect which his death would open. Among his sons there was but
+one who had embraced their doctrine; and this prince, Phthasuarsas, had
+but little chance of being chosen to be his father's successor. Kaoses
+enjoyed the claim of natural right; Chosroes was his father's favorite;
+Zames had the respect and good wishes of the great mass of the people;
+Phthasuarsas was disliked by the Magi, and, if the choice lay with them,
+was certain to be passed over. The sectaries therefore determined not
+to wait the natural course of events, but to shape them to their own
+purposes. They promised Phthasuarsas to obtain by their prayers his
+father's abdication and his own appointment to succeed him, and asked
+him to pledge himself to establish their religion as that of the State
+when he became king. The prince consented; and the Mazdakites proceeded
+to arrange their plans, when, unfortunately for them, Kobad discovered,
+or suspected, that a scheme was on foot to deprive him of his crown.
+Whether the designs of the sectaries were really treasonable or not is
+uncertain; but whatever they were, an Oriental monarch was not likely to
+view them with favor. In the East it is an offence even to speculate on
+the death of the king; and Kobad saw in the intrigue which had been set
+on foot a criminal and dangerous conspiracy. He determined at once to
+crush the movement. Inviting the Mazdakites to a solemn assembly, at
+which he was to confer the royal dignity on Phthasuarsas, he caused his
+army to surround the unarmed multitude and massacre the entire number.
+
+Relieved from this peril, Kobad would at once have declared war against
+Justin, and have marched an army into Roman territory, had not troubles
+broken out in Iberia, which made it necessary for him to stand on the
+defensive. Adopting the intolerant policy so frequently pursued,
+and generally with such ill results, by the Persian kings, Kobad had
+commanded Gurgenes, the Iberian monarch, to renounce Christianity and
+profess the Zoroastrian religion. Especially he had required that the
+Iberian custom of burying the dead should be relinquished, and that the
+Persian practice of exposing corpses to be devoured by dogs and birds of
+prey should supersede the Christian rite of sepulture. Gurgenes was
+too deeply attached to his faith to entertain these propositions for a
+moment. He at once shook off the Persian yoke, and, declaring himself
+a vassal of Rome, obtained a promise from Justin that he would never
+desert the Iberian cause. Rome, however, was not prepared to send her
+own armies into this distant and inhospitable region; her hope was
+to obtain aid from the Tatars of the Crimea, and to play off these
+barbarians against the forces wherewith Kobad might be expected shortly
+to vindicate his authority. An attempt to engage the Crimeans generally
+in this service was made, but it was not successful. A small force was
+enrolled and sent to the assistance of Gurgenes. But now the Persians
+took the field in strength. A large army was sent into Iberia by Kobad,
+under a general named Boes. Gurgenes saw resistance to be impossible.
+He therefore fled the country, and threw himself into Lazica, where
+the difficult nature of the ground, the favor of the natives, and
+the assistance of the Romans enabled him to maintain himself. Iberia,
+however, was lost, and passed once more under the Persians, who even
+penetrated into Lazic territory and occupied some forts which commanded
+the passes between Lazica and Iberia.
+
+Rome, on her part, endeavored to retaliate (A.D. 526) by invading
+Persarmenia and Mesopotamia. The campaign is remarkable as that in
+which the greatest general of the age, the renowned and unfortunate
+Belisarius, first held a command and thus commenced the work of
+learning by experience the duties of a military leader. Hitherto a mere
+guardsman, and still quite a youth, trammelled moreover by association
+with a colleague, he did not on this occasion reap any laurels.
+A Persian force under two generals, Narses and Aratius, defended
+Persarmenia, and, engaging the Romans under Sittas and Belisarius,
+succeeded in defeating them. At the same time, Licelarius, a Thracian in
+the Roman service, made an incursion into the tract about Nisibis,
+grew alarmed without cause and beat a speedy retreat. Hereupon Justin
+recalled him as incompetent, and the further conduct of the war in
+Mesopotamia was entrusted to Belisarius, who took up his headquarters at
+Daras.
+
+The year A.D. 527 seems to have been one in which nothing of importance
+was attempted on either side. At Constantinople the Emperor Justin had
+fallen into ill health, and, after associating his nephew Justinian on
+the 1st of April, had departed this life on the 1st of August. About the
+same time Kobad found his strength insufficient for active warfare, and
+put the command of his armies into the hands of his sons. The struggle
+continued in Lazica, but with no decisive result. At Daras, Belisarius,
+apparently, stood on the defensive. It was not till A.D. 528 had set in
+that he resumed operations in the open field, and prepared once more to
+measure his strength against that of Persia.
+
+Belisarius was stirred from his repose by an order from court. Desirous
+of carrying further the policy of gaining ground by means of fortified
+posts, Justinian, who had recently restored and strengthened the
+frontier city of Martyropolis, on the Nymphius, sent instructions to
+Belisarius, early in A.D. 528, to the effect that he was to build a new
+fort at a place called Mindon, on the Persian border a little to the
+left of Nisibis. The work was commenced, but the Persians would not
+allow it to proceed. An army which numbered 30,000 men, commanded
+by Xerxes, son of Kobad, and Perozes, the Mihran, attacked the Roman
+workmen; and when Belisarius, reinforced by fresh troops from Syria and
+Phoenicia, ventured an engagement, he was completely defeated and forced
+to seek safety in flight. The attempted fortification was, upon this,
+razed to the ground; and the Mihran returned, with numerous prisoners of
+importance, into Persia.
+
+It is creditable to Justinian that he did not allow the ill-success of
+his lieutenant to lead to his recall or disgrace. On the contrary, he
+chose exactly the time of his greatest depression to give him the title
+of "General of the East." Belisarius upon this assembled at Daras an
+imposing force, composed of Romans and allies, the latter being chiefly
+Massagetse. The entire number amounted to 25,000 men; and with this
+army he would probably have assumed the offensive, had not the Persian
+general of the last campaign, Perozes the Mihran, again appeared in
+the field, at the head of 40,000 Persians and declared his intention of
+besieging and taking Daras. With the insolence of an Oriental he sent a
+message to Belisarius, requiring him to have his bath prepared for the
+morrow, as after taking the town he would need that kind of refreshment.
+Belisarius contented himself, in reply, with drawing out his troops in
+front of Daras in a position carefully prepared beforehand, where both
+his centre and his flanks would be protected by a deep ditch, outside
+of which there would be room to act for his cavalry. Perozes, having
+reconnoitred the position, hesitated to attack it without a greater
+advantage of numbers, and sent hastily to Nisibis for 10,000 more
+soldiers, while he allowed the day to pass without anything more serious
+than a demonstration of his calvary against the Roman left, and some
+insignificant single combats.
+
+The next morning his reinforcement arrived; and after some exchange of
+messages with Belisarius, which led to no result, he commenced active
+operations. Placing his infantry in the centre, and his horse upon
+either wing, as the Romans had likewise done, and arranging his
+infantry so that one half should from time to time relieve the other,
+he assaulted the Roman line with a storm of darts and arrows. The Romans
+replied with their missile weapons; but the Persians had the advantage
+of numbers; they were protected by huge wattled shields; and they were
+more accustomed to this style of warfare than their adversaries. Still
+the Romans held out; but it was a relief to them when the missile
+weapons were exhausted on both sides, and a closer fight began along the
+whole line with swords and spears. After a while the Roman left was in
+difficulties. Here the Cadiseni (Cadusians?) under Pituazes routed their
+opponents, and were pursuing them hastily when the Massagetic horse,
+commanded by Sunicas and Aigan, and three hundred Heruli under a chief
+called Pharas, charged them on their right flank, and at once threw them
+into disorder. Three thousand fell, and the rest were driven back upon
+their main body, which, still continued to fight bravely. The Romans did
+not push their advantage, but were satisfied to reoccupy the ground from
+which they had been driven.
+
+Scarcely was the battle re-established in this quarter when the Romans
+found themselves in still greater difficulties upon their right.
+Here Perozes had determined to deliver his main attack. The corps of
+Immortals, which he had kept in reserve, and such troops as he could
+spare from his centre, were secretly massed upon his own left, and
+charged the Roman right with such fury that it was broken and began a
+hasty retreat. The Persians pursued in a long column, and were carrying
+all before them, when once more an impetuous flank charge of the
+barbarian cavalry, which now formed an important element in the Roman
+armies, changed the face of affairs, and indeed decided the fortune of
+the day. The Persian column was actually cut in two by the Massagetic
+horse; those who had advanced the furthest were completely separated
+from their friends, and were at once surrounded and slain. Among them
+was the standard-bearer of Baresmanes, who commanded the Persian left.
+The fall of this man increased the general confusion. In vain did the
+Persian column, checked in its advance, attempt an orderly retreat. The
+Romans assaulted it in front and on both flanks, and a terrible carnage
+ensued. The crowning disaster was the death of Baresmanes, who was slain
+by Sunicas, the Massa-Goth; whereupon the whole Persian army broke and
+fled without offering any further resistance. Here fell 5000, including
+numbers of the "Immortals." The slaughter would have been still greater,
+had not Belisarius and his lieutenant, Termogenes, with wise caution
+restrained the Roman troops and recalled them quickly from the pursuit
+of the enemy, content with the success which they had achieved. It was
+so long since a Roman army had defeated a Persian one in the open field
+that the victory had an extraordinary value, and it would have
+been foolish to risk a reverse in the attempt to give it greater
+completeness.
+
+While these events took place in Mesopotamia, the Persian arms were also
+unsuccessful in the Armenian highlands, whither Kobad had sent a second
+army to act offensively against Rome, under the conduct of a certain
+Mermeroes. The Roman commanders in this region were Sittas, the former
+colleague of Belisarius, and Dorotheas, a general of experience. Their
+troops did not amount to more than half the number of the enemy, yet
+they contrived to inflict on the Persians two defeats, one in their own
+territory, the other in Roman Armenia. The superiority thus exhibited
+by the Romans encouraged desertions to their side; and in some instances
+the deserters were able to carry over with them to their new friends
+small portions of Persian territory.
+
+In the year A.D. 531, after a vain attempt at negotiating terms of
+peace with Rome, the Persians made an effort to recover their laurels
+by carrying the war into a new quarter and effecting a new combination.
+Alamandarus, sheikh of the Saracenic Arabs, had long been a bitter
+enemy of the Romans, and from his safe retreat in the desert had been
+accustomed for fifty years to ravage, almost at his will, the eastern
+provinces of the empire. Two years previously he had carried fire and
+sword through the regions of upper Syria, had burned the suburbs of
+Chalcis, and threatened the Roman capital of the East, the rich and
+luxurious Antioch. He owed, it would seem, some sort of allegiance
+to Persia, although practically he was independent, and made his
+expeditions when and where he pleased. However, in A.D. 531, he put
+himself at the disposal of Persia, proposed a joint expedition, and
+suggested a new plan of campaign. "Mesopotamia and Osrhoene," he said,
+"on which the Persians were accustomed to make their attacks, could
+better resist them than almost any other part of the Roman territory,
+In these provinces were the strongest of the Roman cities, fortified
+according to the latest rules of art, and plentifully supplied with
+every appliance of defensive warfare. There, too, were the best and
+bravest of the Roman troops, and an army more numerous than Rome had
+ever employed against Persia before. It would be most perilous to risk
+an encounter on this ground. Let Persia, however, invade the country
+beyond the Euphrates, and she would find but few obstacles. In that
+region there were no strong fortresses, nor was there any army worth
+mention. Antioch itself, the richest and most populous city of the Roman
+East, was without a garrison, and, if it were suddenly assaulted, could
+probably be taken. The incursion might be made, Antioch sacked, and
+the booty carried off into Persian territory before the Romans in
+Mesopotamia received intelligence of what was happening." Kobad listened
+with approval, and determined to adopt the bold course suggested to him.
+He levied a force of 15,000 cavalry, and, placing it under the command
+of a general named Azarethes, desired him to take Alamandarus for his
+guide and make a joint expedition with him across the Euphrates. It was
+understood that the great object of the expedition was the capture of
+Antioch.
+
+The allied army crossed the Euphrates below Circesium, and ascended the
+right bank of the river till they neared the latitude of Antioch, when
+they struck westward and reached Gabbula (the modern Jabul), on the
+north shore of the salt lake now known as the Sabakhah. Here they
+learned to their surprise that the movement, which they had intended to
+be wholly unknown to the Romans, had come to the ears of Belisarius,
+who had at once quitted Daras, and proceeded by forced marches to the
+defence of Syria, into which he had thrown himself with an army of
+20,000 men, Romans, Isaurians, Lycaonians, and Arabs. His troops were
+already interposed between the Persians and their longed-for prey,
+Belisarius having fixed his headquarters at Chalcis, half a degree
+to the west of Gabbula, and twenty-five miles nearer to Antioch. Thus
+balked of their purpose, and despairing of any greater success than they
+had already achieved, the allies became anxious to return to Persia with
+the plunder of the Syrian towns and villages which they had sacked on
+their advance. Belisarius was quite content that they should carry off
+their spoil, and would have considered it a sufficient victory to have
+frustrated the expedition without striking a blow. But his army was
+otherwise minded; they were eager for battle, and hoped doubtless to
+strip the flying foe of his rich booty. Belisarius was at last forced,
+against his better judgment, to indulge their desires and allow an
+engagement, which was fought on the banks of the Euphrates, nearly
+opposite Callinicus. Here the conduct of the Roman troops in action
+corresponded but ill to the anxiety for a conflict. The infantry indeed
+stood firm, notwithstanding that they fought fasting; but the Saracenic
+Arabs, of whom a portion were on the Roman side, and the Isaurian and
+Lycaonian horse, who had been among the most eager for the fray, offered
+scarcely any resistance; and, the right wing of the Romans being left
+exposed by their flight, Belisarius was compelled to make his troops
+turn their faces to the enemy and their backs to the Euphrates, and in
+this position, where defeat would have been ruin, to meet and resist
+all the assaults of the foe until the shades of evening fell, and he was
+able to transport his troops in boats across the river. The honors of
+victory rested with the Persians, but they had gained no substantial
+advantage; and when Azarethes returned to his master he was not unjustly
+reproached with having sacrificed many lives for no appreciable result.
+The raid into Syria had failed of its chief object; and Belisarius,
+though defeated, had returned, with the main strength of his army
+intact, into Mesopotamia. The battle of Callinicus was fought on Easter
+Eve, April 19.
+
+Azarethes probably reached Ctesiphon and made his report to Kobad
+towards the end of the month. Dissatisfied with what Azarethes had
+achieved, and feeling that the season was not too far advanced for
+a second campaign, Kobad despatched an army under three chiefs, into
+Mesopotamia, where Sittas was now the principal commander on the Roman
+side, as Belisarius had been hastily summoned to Byzantium in order to
+be employed against the "Vandals" in Africa. This force found no one to
+resist in the open field, and was therefore able to invade Sophene and
+lay siege to the Roman fortress of Martyropolis. Martyropolis was ill
+provisioned, and its walls were out of repair. The Persians must soon
+have taken it, had not Sittas contrived to spread reports of a diversion
+which the Huns were about to make as Roman allies. Fear of being caught
+between two fires paralyzed the Persian commanders; and before events
+undeceived them, news arrived in the camp that Kobad was dead, and
+that a new prince sat upon the throne. Under these circumstances,
+Chanaranges, the chief of the Persian commanders, yielded to
+representations made by Sittas, that peace would now probably be made
+between the contending powers, and withdrew his army into Persian
+territory.
+
+Kobad had, in fact, been seized with paralysis on the 8th of September,
+and after an illness which lasted only five days, had expired. Before
+dying, he had communicated to his chief minister, Mebodes, his earnest
+desire that Chosroes should succeed him upon the throne, and, acting
+under the advice of Mebodes, had formally left the crown to him by a
+will duly executed. He is said by a contemporary to have been eighty-two
+years old at his death, an age very seldom attained by an Oriental
+monarch. His long life was more than usually eventful, and he cannot be
+denied the praise of activity, perseverance, fertility of resource, and
+general military capacity. But he was cruel and fickle; he disgraced his
+ministers and his generals on insufficient grounds; he allowed himself,
+from considerations of policy, to smother his religious convictions; and
+he risked subjecting Persia to the horrors of a civil war, in order to
+gratify a favoritism which, however justified by the event, seems to
+have rested on no worthy motive. Chosroes was preferred on account
+of his beauty, and because he was the son of Kobad's best-loved wife,
+rather than for any good qualities; and inherited the kingdom, not so
+much because he had shown any capacity to govern as because he was his
+father's darling.
+
+The coins of Kobad are, as might be expected from the length of his
+reign, very numerous. In their general appearance they resemble those of
+Zamasp, but do not exhibit quite so many stars and crescents. The legend
+on the obverse is either "Kavdt" or "Kavdt" afzui, i.e. "Kobad," or
+"May Kobad be increased." The reverse shows the regnal year, which
+ranges from eleven to forty-three, together with a mint-mark. The
+mint-marks, which are nearly forty in number, comprise almost all those
+of Perozes, together with about thirteen others. [PLATE XXII. Fig. 2.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+_Accession of Chosroes I. (Anushirwari). Conspiracy to dethrone him
+crushed. General Severity of his Government. He concludes Peace with
+Rome, A.D. 533. Terms of the Peace. Causes Which led to its Rupture.
+First Roman War of Chosroes, A.D. 540-544. Second Roman War, A.D.
+549-557. Eastern Wars. Conquest of Arabia Felix. Supposed Campaign in
+India. War with the Turks. Revolt of Persarmenia. Third Roman War, A.D.
+572-579. Death of Chosroes._
+
+
+The accession of Chosroes was not altogether undisputed, Kaoses, the
+eldest of the sons of Kobad, regarding himself as entitled to the crown
+by right of birth, assumed the insignia of royalty on the death of his
+father, and claimed to be acknowledged as monarch. But Mebodes, the
+Grand Vizier, interposed with the assertion of a constitutional axiom,
+that no one had the right of taking the Persian crown until it was
+assigned to him by the assembly of the nobles. Kaoses, who thought he
+might count on the goodwill of the nobles, acquiesced; and the assembly
+being convened, his claims were submitted to it. Hereupon Mebodes
+brought forward the formal testament of Kobad, which he had hitherto
+concealed, and, submitting it to the nobles, exhorted them to accept as
+king the brave prince designated by a brave and successful father. His
+eloquence and authority prevailed; the claims of Kaoses and of at least
+one other son of Kobad were set aside; and, in accordance with his
+father's will, Chosroes was proclaimed lawful monarch of Persia.
+
+But a party among the nobles were dissatisfied with the decision to
+which the majority had come. They dreaded the restlessness, and probably
+feared the cruelty, of Chosroes. It might have been expected that they
+would have espoused the cause of the disappointed Kaoses, which had
+a solid basis of legality to rest upon; but, apparently, the personal
+character of Kaoses was unsatisfactory, or at any rate, there was
+another prince whose qualities conciliated more regard and aroused more
+enthusiasm. Zanies, the second son of Kobad, had distinguished himself
+repeatedly in the field, and was the idol of a considerable section
+of the nation, who had long desired that he should govern them.
+Unfortunately, however, he possessed a disqualification fatal in the
+eyes of Orientals; he had, by disease or mischance, lost one of his
+eyes, and this physical blemish made it impossible that he should occupy
+the Persian throne. Under these circumstances an ingenious plan was hit
+upon. In order to combine respect for law and usage with the practical
+advantage of being governed by the man of their choice, the discontented
+nobles conceived the idea of conferring the crown on a son of Zames,
+a boy named after his grandfather Kobad, on whose behalf Zames would
+naturally be regent. Zames readily came into the plot; several of his
+brothers, and, what is most strange, Chosroes' maternal uncle, the
+Aspebed, supported him; the conspiracy seemed nearly sure of success,
+when by some accident it was discovered, and the occupant of the throne
+took prompt and effectual measures to crush it. Zames, Kaoses, and all
+the other sons of Kobad were seized by order of Chosroes, and, together
+with their entire male offspring, were condemned to death. The Aspebed,
+and the other nobles found to have been accessory to the conspiracy,
+were, at the same time, executed. One prince alone, the intended
+puppet-king, Kobad, escaped, through the compassion of the Persian who
+had charge of him, and, after passing many years in concealment, became
+a refugee at the Court of Constantinople, where he was kindly treated by
+Justinian.
+
+When Chosroes had by these means secured himself against the claims
+of pretenders, he proceeded to employ equal severity in repressing the
+disorders, punishing the crimes, and compelling the abject submission
+of his subjects. The heresiarch Mazdak, who had escaped the persecution
+instituted in his later years by Kobad, and the sect of the Mazdakites,
+which, despite that persecution, was still strong and vigorous, were
+the first to experience the oppressive weight of his resentment; and the
+corpses of a hundred thousand martyrs blackening upon gibbets proved
+the determination of the new monarch to make his will law, whatever
+the consequences. In a similar spirit the hesitation of Mebodes to obey
+instantaneously an order sent him by the king was punished capitally,
+and with circumstances of peculiar harshness, by the stern prince, who
+did not allow gratitude for old benefits to affect the judgments which
+he passed on recent offences. Nor did signal services in the field avail
+to save Chanaranges, the nobleman who preserved the young Kobad, from
+his master's vengeance. The conqueror of twelve nations, betrayed by an
+unworthy son, was treacherously entrapped and put to death on account of
+a single humane act which had in no way harmed or endangered the jealous
+monarch.
+
+The fame of Chosroes rests especially on his military exploits and
+successes. On first ascending the throne he seems, however, to have
+distrusted his capacity for war; and it was with much readiness that he
+accepted the overtures for peace made by Justinian, who was anxious
+to bring the Eastern war to a close, in order that he might employ the
+talents of Belisarius in the reduction of Africa and Italy. A truce
+was made between Persia and Rome early in A.D. 532; and the truce was
+followed after a short interval by a treaty--known as "the endless
+peace"--whereby Rome and Persia made up their differences and arranged
+to be friends on the following conditions: (1) Rome was to pay over
+to Persia the sum of eleven thousand pounds of gold, or about half a
+million of our money, as her contribution towards the maintenance of the
+Caucasian defences, the actual defence being undertaken by Persia; (2)
+Daras was to remain a fortified post, but was not to be made the Roman
+head-quarters in Mesopotamia, which were to be fixed at Constantia;
+(3) the district of Pharangium and the castle of Bolon, which Rome had
+recently taken from Persia, were to be restored, and Persia on her part
+was to surrender the forts which she had captured in Lazica; (4) Rome
+and Persia were to be eternal friends and allies, and were to aid
+each other whenever required with supplies of men and money. Thus was
+terminated the thirty years' war, which, commencing in A.D. 502 by the
+attack of Kobad on Annastasius, was brought to a close in A.D. 532, and
+ratified by Justinian in the year following.
+
+When Chosroes consented to substitute close relations of amity with Rome
+for the hereditary enmity which had been the normal policy of his house,
+he probably expected that no very striking or remarkable results would
+follow. He supposed that the barbarian neighbors of the empire on the
+north and on the west would give her arms sufficient employment, and
+that the balance of power in Eastern Europe and Western Asia would
+remain much as before. But in these expectations he was disappointed.
+Justinian no sooner found his eastern frontier secure than he directed
+the whole force of the empire upon his enemies in the regions of the
+west, and in the course of half a dozen years (A.D. 533-539), by the
+aid of his great general, Belisarius, he destroyed the kingdom of the
+Vandals in the region about Carthage and Tunis, subdued the Moors,
+and brought to its last gasp the power of the Ostrogoths in Italy. The
+territorial extent of his kingdom was nearly doubled by these victories;
+his resources were vastly increased; the prestige of his arms was
+enormously raised; veteran armies had been formed which despised danger,
+and only desired to be led against fresh enemies; and officers had been
+trained capable of conducting operations of every kind, and confident,
+under all circumstances, of success. It must have been with feelings
+of dissatisfaction and alarm not easily to be dissembled that the Great
+King heard of his brother's long series of victories and conquests, each
+step in which constituted a fresh danger to Persia by aggrandizing the
+power whom she had chiefly to fear. At first his annoyance found a vent
+in insolent demands for a share of the Roman spoils, which Justinian
+thought it prudent to humor but, as time went on, and the tide of
+victory flowed more and more strongly in one direction, he became
+less and less able to contain himself, and more and more determined to
+renounce his treaty with Rome and renew the old struggle for supremacy.
+His own inclination, a sufficiently strong motive in itself, was
+seconded and intensified by applications made to him from without on the
+part of those who had especial reasons for dreading the advance of Rome,
+and for expecting to be among her next victims. Witiges, the Ostrogoth
+king of Italy, and Bassaces, an Armenian chief, were the most important
+of these applicants. Embassies from these opposite quarters reached
+Chosroes in the same year, A.D. 539, and urged him for his own security
+to declare war against Justinian before it was too late. "Justinian,"
+the ambassadors said, "aimed at universal empire. His aspirations had
+for a while been kept in check by Persia, and by Persia alone, the sole
+power in the world that he feared. Since the 'endless peace' was made,
+he had felt himself free to give full vent to his ambitious greed,
+had commenced a course of aggression upon all the other conterminous
+nations, and had spread war and confusion on all sides. He had destroyed
+the kingdom of the Vandals in Africa, conquered the Moors, deceived the
+Goths of Italy by professions of friendship, and then fallen upon them
+with all his forces, violated the rights of Armenia and driven it to
+rebellion, enslaved the Tzani and the Lazi, seized the Greek city
+of Bosporus, and the 'Isle of Palms' on the shores of the Red Sea,
+solicited the alliance of barbarous Huns and Ethiopians, striven to sow
+discord between the Persian monarch and his vassals, and in every part
+of the world shown himself equally grasping and restless. What would be
+the consequence if Persia continued to hold aloof? Simply that all the
+other nations would in turn be destroyed, and she would find herself
+face to face with their destroyer, and would enjoy the poor satisfaction
+of being devoured last. But did she fear to be reproached with breaking
+the treaty and forfeiting her pledged word? Rome had already broken it
+by her intrigues with the Huns, the Ethiopians, and the Saracens; and
+Persia would therefore be free from reproach if she treated the peace
+as no longer existing. The treaty-breaker is not he who first draws the
+sword, but he who sets the example of seeking the other's hurt. Or did
+Persia fear the result of declaring war? Such fear was unreasonable,
+for Rome had neither troops, nor generals to oppose to a sudden Persian
+attack. Sittas was dead; Belisarius and the best of the Roman forces
+were in Italy. If Justinian recalled Belisarius, it was not certain that
+he would obey; and, in the worst case, it would be in favor of Persia
+that the Goths of Italy, and the Armenians who for centuries had been
+subjects of Rome, were now ready to make common cause with her." Thus
+urged, the Persian king determined on openly declaring war and making an
+attack in force on the eastern provinces of the empire.
+
+The scene of contest in the wars between Rome and Persia had been
+usually either Mesopotamia or Armenia. On rare occasions only had the
+traditional policy been departed from, and attempts made to penetrate
+into the richer parts of the Roman East, and to inflict serious injury
+on the empire by carrying fire and sword into peaceful and settled
+provinces. Kobad, however, had in his later years ventured to introduce
+a new system, and had sent troops across the Euphrates into Syria in
+the hope of ravaging that fertile region and capturing its wealthy
+metropolis, Antioch. This example Chosroes now determined to follow.
+Crossing the great stream in the lower portion of its course, he led his
+troops up its right bank, past Circesium, Zenobia, and Callinicus, to
+Suron, a Roman town on the west side of the river. As this small place
+ventured to resist him, Chosroes, bent upon terrifying the other towns
+into submission, resolved to take a signal revenge. Though the garrison,
+after losing their commandant, made overtures for a surrender, he
+insisted on entering forcibly at one of the gates, and then, upon the
+strength of this violent entrance, proceeded to treat the city as one
+taken by storm, pillaged the houses, massacred a large portion of the
+inhabitants, enslaved the others, and in conclusion set the place on
+fire and burned it to the ground. It was perhaps in a fit of remorse,
+though possibly only under the influence of greed, that shortly
+afterwards he allowed the neighboring bishop of Sergiopolis to ransom
+these unfortunate captives, twelve thousand, in number, for the modest
+sum of two hundred pounds of gold.
+
+From Suron the invading army advanced to Hierapolis, without
+encountering the enemy, who did not dare to make any resistance in the
+open field, but sought the protection of walls and strongholds. The
+defences of Hierapolis were in tolerable order; its garrison was fairly
+strong; and the Great King therefore prudently resolved to allow the
+citizens to ransom themselves and their city at a moderate price. Two
+thousand pounds of silver was the amount fixed upon; and this sum was
+paid without any complaint by the Hierapolites. Plunder, not conquest,
+was already distinctly set before the invader's mind as his aim; and
+it is said that he even offered at this period to evacuate the Roman
+territory altogether upon receiving a thousand pounds of gold. But
+the Romans were not yet brought so low as to purchase a peace; it was
+thought that Antioch and the other important towns might successfully
+defy the Persian arms, and hoped that Justinian would soon send into
+the field an army strong enough to cope with that of his adversary. The
+terms, therefore, which Chosroes offered by the mouth of Megas, bishop
+of Berhcea, were rejected; the Antiochenes were exhorted to remain firm;
+Ephraim, the bishop, was denounced to the authorities for counselling
+submission; and it was determined to make no pacific arrangement, but to
+allow Chosroes to do his worst. The Persian, on his side, was not slack
+or remiss. No sooner had he received the ransom of Hierapolis than
+he advanced upon Berhoea (now Aleppo), which he reached in four days.
+Observing that the defences were weak, he here demanded twice the ransom
+that he had accepted from the Hierapolites, and was only induced to
+forego the claim by the tears and entreaties of the good bishop, who
+convinced him at length that the Berhoeans could not pay so large a sum,
+and induced him to accept the half of it. A few more days' march brought
+him from Aleppo to the outskirts of Antioch; and after an interval of
+nearly three centuries the "Queen of the East," the richest and most
+magnificent of Oriental cities, was once more invested by Persian troops
+and threatened by a Sassanian monarch.
+
+A great calamity had fallen upon Antioch only fourteen years previously.
+The entire town had been ruined by a succession of terrible earthquakes,
+which commenced in October, A.D. 525, and terminated in August of the
+ensuing year. All for a time was havoc and disorder. A landslip had
+covered a portion of the city, and in the remainder almost every house
+was overthrown. But the liberality of Justinian, the spirit of the
+inhabitants, and the efforts of the governor, had effaced these
+disasters; and the city, when the Persians appeared before it, was in
+most respects grander and more magnificent than ever. The defences were,
+however, it would seem, imperfect. The citadel especially, which was
+on the high ground south of the city, had been constructed with small
+attention to the rules of engineering art, and was dominated by a height
+at a little distance, which ought to have been included within the
+walls. Nor was this deficiency compensated by any strength in the
+garrison, or any weight of authority or talent among those with whom
+rested the command. Justinian had originally sent his nephew, Germanus,
+to conduct the defence of the Syrian capital, while Buzes, an officer
+who had gained some repute in the Armenian war, was entrusted with
+the general protection of the East until Belisarius should arrive from
+Italy; but Germanus, after a brief stay, withdrew from Antioch into
+Cilicia, and Buzes disappeared without any one knowing whither he had
+betaken himself. Antioch was left almost without a garrison; and had
+not Theoctistus and Molatzes, two officers who commanded in the
+Lebanon, come to the rescue and brought with them a body of six thousand
+disciplined troops, it is scarcely possible that any resistance should
+have been made. As it was, the resistance was brief and ineffectual.
+Chosroes at once discerned the weak point in the defences, and, having
+given a general order to the less trusty of his troops to make attacks
+upon the lower town in various places, himself with the flower of
+the army undertook the assault upon the citadel. Here the commanding
+position so unaccountably left outside the walls enabled the Persians to
+engage the defenders almost on a level, and their superior skill in the
+use of missile weapons soon brought the garrison into difficulties. The
+assailants, however, might perhaps still have been repulsed, had not
+an unlucky accident supervened, which, creating a panic, put it in the
+power of the Persians by a bold movement to enter the place. The Romans,
+cramped for room upon the walls, had extemporized some wooden stages
+between the towers, which they hung outside by means of ropes. It
+happened that, in the crush and tumult, one of these stages gave way;
+the ropes broke, and the beams fell with a crash to the earth, carrying
+with them a number of the defenders. The noise made by the fall was
+great, and produced a general impression that the wall itself had been
+broken down; the towers and battlements were at once deserted; the
+Roman soldiers rushed to the gates and began to quit the town; while the
+Persians took advantage of the panic to advance their scaling ladders,
+to mount the walls, and to make themselves masters of the citadel. Thus
+Antioch was taken. The prudence of Chosroes was shown in his quietly
+allowing the armed force to withdraw; his resolve to trample down all
+resistance appeared in his slaughter of the Antiochone youth, who with
+a noble recklessness continued the conflict after the soldiers had fled;
+his wish to inspire terror far and wide made him deliver the entire
+city, with few exceptions, to the flames; while his avarice caused him
+to plunder the churches, and to claim as his own the works of art, the
+marbles, bronzes, tablets, and pictures, with which the Queen of
+the Roman East was at this time abundantly provided. But, while thus
+gratifying his most powerful passions, he did not lose sight of the
+opportunity to conclude an advantageous peace. Justinian's ambassadors
+had long been pressing him to come to terms with their master. He now
+consented to declare the conditions on which he was ready to make peace
+and withdraw his army. Rome must pay him, as an indemnity for the cost
+of the war, the sum of five thousand pounds of gold, and must also
+contract to make a further payment of five hundred pounds of gold
+annually, not as a tribute, but as a fair contribution towards the
+expense of maintaining the Caspian Gates and keeping out the Huns. If
+hostages were given him, he would consent to abstain from further acts
+of hostility while Justinian was consulted on these proposals, and would
+even begin at once to withdraw his army. The ambassadors readily agreed
+to these terms, and it was understood that a truce would be observed
+until Justinian's answer should be delivered to Chosroes.
+
+But the Great King, in thus formulating the terms on which he would be
+content to make peace, did not intend to tie his own hands, or to allow
+the Syrian cities before which he had not yet appeared to be quit of
+him without the payment of ransom. After visiting Seleucia, the port of
+Antioch at the mouth of the Orontes, bathing in the blue waters of the
+Mediterranean, and offering sacrifice to the (setting?) sun upon the
+shore, he announced his intention of proceeding to Apameia, a city
+on the middle Orontes, which was celebrated for its wealth, and
+particularly for its possession of a fragment of the "true cross,"
+enshrined in a case which the pious zeal of the faithful had enriched
+with gold and jewels of extraordinary value. Received peacefully into
+the city by the submissive inhabitants, instead of fixing their ransom
+at a definite sum, he demanded and obtained all the valuables of the
+sacred treasury, including the precious relic which the Apamaeans
+regarded as the most important of their possessions. As, however, it was
+the case, and not its contents, that he coveted, while he carried off
+the former, he readily restored the latter to the prayers of the bishop
+and inhabitants.
+
+From Apameia Chosroes returned to Antioch, and after witnessing the
+games of the amphitheatre and securing victory to the green champion
+because Justinian preferred the blue, he set out at last on his return
+to Persia, taking care to visit, upon his way to the Euphrates, the city
+of Chalcis, the only important place in Northern Syria that had hitherto
+escaped him. The Chalcidians were required not only to ransom themselves
+by a sum of money, but to give up to Chosroes the Roman soldiers who
+garrisoned their town. By a perjury that may well be forgiven them,
+they avoided the more important concession, but they had to satisfy the
+avarice of the conqueror by the payment of two hundred pounds of gold.
+The Persian host then continued its march, and reaching the Euphrates at
+Obbane, in the neighborhood of Barbalissus, crossed by a bridge of boats
+in three days. The object of Chosroes in thus changing his return line
+of march was to continue in Roman Mesopotamia the course which he had
+adopted in Syria since the conclusion of the truce--i.e. to increase his
+spoil by making each important city ransom itself. Edessa, Constantina,
+and Daras were successively visited, and purchased their safety by a
+contribution. According to Procopius, the proceedings before Daras were
+exceptional. Although Chosroes, before he quitted Edossa, had received a
+communication from Justinian accepting the terms arranged with the Roman
+envoys at Antioch, yet, when he reached Daras, he at once resolved upon
+its siege. The city was defended by two walls, an outer one of moderate
+strength, and an inner one sixty feet high, with towers at intervals,
+whose height was a hundred feet. Chosroes, having invested the place,
+endeavored to penetrate within the defences by means of a mine; but, his
+design having been betrayed, the Romans met him with a countermine, and
+completely foiled his enterprise. Unwilling to spend any more time on
+the siege, the Persian monarch upon this desisted from his attempt, and
+accepted the contribution of a thousand pounds of silver as a sufficient
+redemption for the great fortress.
+
+Such is the account of the matter given to us by Procopius, who is our
+only extant authority for the details of this war. But the account is
+violently improbable. It represents Chosroes as openly flying in the
+face of a treaty the moment that he had concluded it, and as departing
+in a single instance from the general tenor of his proceedings in all
+other cases. In view of the great improbability of such a course of
+action, it is perhaps allowable to suppose that Procopius has been for
+once carried away by partisanship, and that the real difference between
+the case of Daras and the other towns consisted in this, that Daras
+alone refused to pay its ransom, and Chosroes had, in consequence, to
+resort to hostilities in order to enforce it.
+
+Still, no doubt, the whole conduct of Chosroes in enforcing ransoms
+from the towns after the conclusion of the truce was open to serious
+question, and Justinian was quite justified in treating his proceedings
+as a violation of his recent engagements. It is not unlikely that, even
+without any such excuse, he would shortly have renewed the struggle,
+since the return of Belisarius in triumph from the Italian war had
+placed at his service for employment in the East a general from whose
+abilities much was naturally expected. As it was, Justinian was able, on
+receiving intelligence of the fines levied on Apameia, Chalcis, Edessa,
+Constantina, and Daras, and of the hostile acts committed against the
+last-named place, with great show of reason and justice, to renounce the
+recently concluded peace, and to throw on the ill faith of Chosroes the
+blame of the rupture.
+
+The Persian prince seems to have paid but little heed to the
+denunciation. He passed the winter in building and beautifying a Persian
+Antioch in the neighborhood of Ctesiphon, assigning it as a residence
+to his Syrian captives, for whose use he constructed public baths and
+a spacious hippodrome, where the entertainments familiar to them from
+their youth were reproduced by Syrian artists. The new city was
+exempt from the jurisdiction of Persian satraps, and was made directly
+dependent upon the king, who supplied it with corn gratuitously, and
+allowed it to become an inviolable asylum for all such Greek slaves as
+should take shelter in it, and be acknowledged as their kinsmen by any
+of the inhabitants. A model of Greek civilization was thus brought into
+close contact with the Persian court, which could amuse itself with the
+contrasts, if it did not learn much from the comparison, of European and
+Asiatic manners and modes of thought.
+
+The campaign of A.D. 540 was followed by one of a very different
+character in A.D. 541. An unexpected offer suddenly made to the Persian
+king drew him from his capital, together with the bulk of his troops, to
+one of the remotest portions of the Persian territory, and allowed the
+Romans, instead of standing on their defence, to assume an aggressive
+in Mesopotamia, and even to retaliate the invasion which the year before
+Chosroes had conducted into the heart of their empire. The hostile
+operations of A.D. 541 had thus two distinct and far-distant scenes; in
+the one set the Persians, in the other the Romans, took the offensive;
+the two wars, for such they in reality were, scarcely affected one
+another; and it will therefore be convenient to keep the accounts of
+them distinct and separate. To commence with.
+
+
+I. The LAZIO WAR.--Lazica had been a dependency of Rome from the time
+when Tzath, upon his conversion to Christianity, professed himself the
+vassal of Justin, and received the insignia of royalty from his new
+patron (A.D. 522). The terms of the connection had been at the first
+honorable to the weaker nation, which paid no tribute, admitted no
+Roman garrison, and was troubled by no Roman governor. As time went
+on, however, the Romans gradually encroached upon the rights of their
+dependants; they seized and fortified a strong post, called Petra, upon
+the coast, appointed a commandant who claimed an authority as great
+as that of the Lazic king, and established a commercial monopoly which
+pressed with great severity upon the poorer classes of the Lazi. Under
+these circumstances the nation determined on revolt; and in the winter
+of A.D. 540-1 Lazic ambassadors visited the court of Persia, exposed the
+grievances of their countrymen, and besought Chosroes to accept their
+submission, and extend to them the protection of his government. The
+province was distant, and possessed few attractions; whatever the
+tales told of its ancient wealth, or glories, or trade, in the time of
+Chosroes it was poor and unproductive, dependent on its neighbors for
+some of the necessaries and all the conveniences of life, and capable
+of exporting nothing but timber, slaves, and skins. It might have been
+expected, under such circumstances, that the burden of the protectorate
+would have been refused; but there was an advantage, apparent or real,
+in the position of the country, discovered by the sagacity of Chosroes
+or suggested to him by the interested zeal of the envoys, which made its
+possession seem to the Persian king a matter of the highest importance,
+and induced him to accept the offer made him without a moment's delay.
+Lazica, the ancient Colchis and the modern Mingrelia and Imeritia,
+bordered upon the Black Sea, which the Persian dominions did not as yet
+touch. Once in possesion of this tract, Chosroes conceived that he might
+launch a fleet upon the Euxine, command its commerce, threaten or ravage
+its shores, and even sail against Constantinople and besiege the Roman
+emperor in his capital. The Persian king therefore acceded to the
+request of the envoys, and, pretending to be called into Iberia by a
+threatened invasion of the Huns, led a large army to the Lazic border,
+was conducted into the heart of the country by the envoys, received the
+submission of Gubazes, the king, and then, pressing on to the coast,
+formed the siege of Petra, where the Roman forces were collected. Petra
+offered a stout resistance, and repulsed more than one Persian assault;
+but it was impossible for the small garrison to cope with the numbers,
+the engineering skill, and the ardor of the assailants. After the loss
+of their commandant, Johannes, and the fall of one of the principal
+towers, the soldiers capitulated; Petra was made over to the Persians,
+who restored and strengthened its defences, and Lazica became for the
+time a Persian province.
+
+
+II. The War in Mesopotamia.--Belisarius, on reaching the eastern
+frontier, fixed his head-quarters at Daras, and, finding that the
+Persians had no intention of invading Syria or Roman Mesopotamia,
+resolved to lead his troops into the enemy's territory. As his forces
+were weak in numbers, ill-armed, and ill-supplied, he could scarcely
+hope to accomplish any great enterprise; but it was important to recover
+the Roman prestige after the occurrences of the preceding year, and to
+show that Rome was willing to encounter in the open field any force that
+the Persians could bring against her. He therefore crossed the frontier
+and advanced in the direction of Nisibis, less with the intention of
+attacking the town than of distinctly offering battle to the troops
+collected within it. His scheme succeeded; a small force, which he threw
+out in advance, drew the enemy from the walls; and their pursuit of
+this detachment brought them into contact with the main army of
+Belisarius, which repulsed them and sent them flying into the town.
+Having thus established his superiority in the field, the Roman general,
+though he could not attack Nisibis with any prospect of success, was
+able to adopt other offensive measures. He advanced in person a day's
+march beyond Nisibis, and captured the fort of Sisauranon. Eight hundred
+Persian cavalry of the first class were made prisoners, and sent by
+Belisarius to Byzantium, where they were despatched by Justinian to
+Italy, where they served against the Goths. Arethas, the chief of the
+Saracens who fought on the side of Rome, was sent still further in
+advance. The orders given him were to cross the Tigris into Assyria, and
+begin to ravage it, but to return within a short time to the camp, and
+bring a report of the strength of the Persians beyond the river. If the
+report was favorable, Belisarius intended to quit Mesopotamia, and take
+the whole Roman force with him into Assyria. His plans, however,
+were frustrated by the selfish Arab, who, wishing to obtain the whole
+Assyrian spoil for himself, dismissed his Roman troops, proceeded to
+plunder the rich province on his own account, and sent Belisarius no
+intelligence of what he was so doing. After waiting at Sisauranon
+till the heats of summer had decimated his army, the Roman general
+was compelled to retreat by the discontent of the soldiery and the
+representations of his principal officers. He withdrew his forces within
+the Roman frontier without molestation from the enemy, and was shortly
+afterwards summoned to Constantinople to confer on the state of affairs
+with, the emperor.
+
+
+The military operations of the next year (A.D. 542) were comparatively
+unimportant. Chosroes collected a large army, and, repeating the
+movement of A.D. 540, made his appearance in Commagene early in the
+year, intending to press forward through Syria into Palestine, and
+hoping to make himself master of the sacred treasures which he knew to
+be accumulated in the Holy City of Jerusalem. He found the provincial
+commanders, Buzes and Justus, despondent and unenterprising, declined
+to meet him in the field, and content to remain shut up within the walls
+of Hierapolis. Had these been his only opponents the campaign would
+probably have proved a success; but, at the first news of his invasion,
+Justinian despatched Belisarius to the East, for the second time,
+and this able general, by his arts or by his reputation, succeeded
+in arresting the steps of Chosroes and frustrating his expedition.
+Belisarius took up his head-quarters at Europus, on the Euphrates, a
+little to the south of Zeugma, and, spreading his troops on both
+banks of the river, appeared both to protect the Roman province and to
+threaten the return of the enemy. Chosroes having sent an emissary to
+the Roman camp under the pretence of negotiating, but really to act the
+part of a spy, was so impressed (if we may believe Procopius) by the
+accounts which he received of the ability of the general and the
+warlike qualities of his soldiers, that he gave up the idea of advancing
+further, and was content to retire through Roman Mesopotamia into his
+own territories. He is said even to have made a convention that he would
+commit no hostile act as he passed through the Roman province; but if
+so, he did not keep the engagement. The city of Callinicus lay in his
+way; its defences were undergoing repairs, and there was actually a gap
+in one place where the old wall had been pulled down and the new one had
+not yet been built. The Persian king could not resist the temptation
+of seizing this easy prey; he entered the undefended town, enslaved all
+whom he found in it, and then razed the place to the ground. Such is
+the account which the Byzantine historian gives of the third campaign
+of Chosroes against the Romans, and of the motive and manner of his
+retreat. Without taxing him with falsehood, we may suspect that, for the
+glorification of his favorite hero, he has kept back a portion of the
+truth. The retreat of Chosroes may be ascribed with much probability to
+the advance of another danger, more formidable than Belisarius, which
+exactly at this time made its appearance in the country whereto he was
+hastening. It was in the summer of A.D. 542 that the plague broke out at
+Pelusium, and spread from that centre rapidly into the rest of Egypt and
+also into Palestine. Chosroes may well have hesitated to confront this
+terrible foe. He did not ultimately escape it; but he might hope to
+do so, and it would clearly have been the height of imprudence to have
+carried out his intention of invading Palestine when the plague was
+known to be raging there.
+
+The fourth year of the Roman war (A.D. 543) opened with a movement of
+the Persian troops toward the Armenian frontier, consequent upon the
+desertion of the Persian cause by the Roman Armenians in the course of
+the winter. Chosroes in person once more led the attack, and proceeded
+as far as Azerbijan; but, the pestilence breaking out in his army, he
+hastily retreated, after some futile attempts at negotiation with the
+Roman officers opposed to him. Belisarius had this year been sent to
+Italy, and the Roman army of the East, amounting to thirty thousand
+men, was commanded by as many as fifteen generals, almost of equal rank,
+among whom there was little concert or agreement. Induced to take
+the offensive by the retirement of the Persian king, these incapable
+officers invaded Persarmenia with all their troops, and proceeded to
+plunder its rich plains and fertile valleys. Encountering suddenly and
+unexpectedly the Persian general Nabedes, who, with a small force,
+was strongly posted at a village called Anglon, they were compelled to
+engage at disadvantage; their troops, entangled in difficult ground,
+found themselves attacked in their rear by an ambush; Narses, the
+bravest of them, fell; and, a general panic seizing the entire
+multitude, they fled in the extremest disorder, casting away their
+arms, and pressing their horses till they sank and expired. The Persians
+pursued, but with caution, and the carnage was not so great as might
+have been expected; but vast numbers of the disarmed fugitives were
+overtaken and made prisoners by the enemy; and the arms, animals,
+and camp equipment which fell into the hands of the Persians amply
+compensated all previous losses, and left Persarmenia the richer for the
+inroad.
+
+The ravages of the pestilence having ceased, Chosroes, in the following
+year (A.D. 544), again marched westward in person, and laid siege to the
+city of Edessa. It would seem that he had now resolved not to be content
+with plundering raids, but to attempt at any rate the permanent conquest
+of some portion of the Roman territory. Edessa and Daras were the two
+towns on which the Roman possession of Western Mesopotamia at this time
+mainly depended. As the passing of Nisibis, in A.D. 363, from Roman into
+Persian hands, had given to Persia a secure hold on the eastern portion
+of the country between the rivers, so the occupation of Edessa and Daras
+could it have been effected, would have carried with it dominion over
+the more western regions. The Roman frontier would in this way have been
+thrown back to the Euphrates. Chosroes must be understood as aiming at
+this grand result in the siege which he so pertinaciously pressed, and
+which Edessa so gallantly resisted, during the summer of A.D. 544. The
+elaborate account which Procopius gives of the siege may be due to a
+sense of its importance. Chosroes tried, not force only, but every art
+known to the engineering science of the period; he repeated his assaults
+day after day; he allowed the defenders no repose; yet he was compelled
+at last to own himself baffled by the valor of the small Roman garrison
+and the spirit of the native inhabitants, to burn his works, and to
+return home. The five hundred pounds of gold which he extorted at last
+from Martinus, the commandant of the place, may have been a salve to
+his wounded pride; but it was a poor set-off against the loss of men, of
+stores, and of prestige, which he had incurred by his enterprise.
+
+It was, perhaps, his repulse from the walls of Edessa that induced
+Chosroes, in A.D. 545, seriously to entertain the proposals for an
+arrangement which were made to him by the ambassadors of Justinian.
+Throughout the war their had been continual negotiations; but hitherto
+the Persian king had trifled with his antagonist, and had amused himself
+with discussing terms of accommodation without any serious purpose.
+Now at last, after five years of incessant hostilities, in which he
+had gained much glory but little profit, he seems to have desired a
+breathing-space. Justinian's envoys visited him at Ctesiphon, and
+set forth their master's desire to conclude a regular peace. Chosroes
+professed to think that the way for a final arrangement would be best
+prepared by the conclusion, in the first instance, of a truce. He
+proposed, in lieu of a peace, a cessation of hostilities for five years,
+during the course of which the causes of quarrel between the two nations
+might be considered, and a good understanding established. It shows the
+weakness of the Empire, that Justinian not only accepted this proposal,
+but was content to pay for the boon granted him. Chosroes received as
+the price of the five years truce the services of a Greek physician and
+two thousand pounds of gold.
+
+The five years' truce seems to have been observed with better faith
+by the Persian than by the Roman monarch. Alamundarus indeed, though
+a Persian vassal, regarded himself as entitled, despite the truce, to
+pursue his quarrel with his natural enemy, Arethas, who acknowledged the
+suzerainty of Rome; but Chosroes is not even accused of instigating
+his proceedings; and the war between the vassals was carried on without
+dragging either of the two lords-paramount into its vortex. Thus far,
+then, neither side had any cause of complaint against the other. If we
+were bound to accept the Roman story of a project formed by Chosroes
+for the surprise and seizure of Daras, we should have to admit that
+circumstances rather than his own will saved the Persian monarch from
+the guilt of being the first to break the agreement. But the tale told
+by Procopius is improbable; and the Roman belief of it can have rested
+at best only upon suspicion. Chosroes, it is allowed, committed no
+hostile act; and it may well be doubted whether he really entertained
+the design ascribed to him. At any rate, the design was not executed,
+nor even attempted; and the peace was thus not broken on his part.
+It was reserved for Rome in the fourth year of the truce (A.D. 549)
+expressly, to break its provisions by accepting the Lazi into alliance
+and sending them a body of eight thousand men to help them against the
+Persians.
+
+Very soon after their submission to Persia the Lazi had repented of
+their rash and hasty action. They found that they had gained nothing,
+while in some respects they had lost, by their change of masters.
+The general system of the Persian administration was as arbitrary and
+oppressive as the Roman. If the commercial monopoly, whereof they so
+bitterly complained, had been swept away, commerce itself had gone with
+it, and they could neither find a market for their own products, nor
+obtain the commodities which they required. The Persian manners and
+customs introduced into their country, if not imposed upon themselves,
+were detestable to the Lazi, who were zealous and devout Christians,
+and possessed by the spirit of intolerance. Chosroes, after holding the
+territory for a few years, became convinced that Persia could not
+retain it unless the disaffected population were removed and replaced
+by faithful subjects. He designed therefore, we are told, to deport
+the entire Lazic nation, and to plant the territory with colonies of
+Persians and others, on whose fidelity he could place full reliance.
+As a preliminary step, he suggested to his lieutenant in Lazica that he
+should contrive the assassination of Gubazes, the Lazic king, in whom
+he saw an obstacle to his project. Phabrizus, however, failed in his
+attempt to execute this commission; and his failure naturally produced
+the immediate revolt of the province, which threw itself once more into
+the arms of Rome, and, despite the existing treaty with the Persians,
+was taken by Justinian under his protection.
+
+The Lazic war, which commenced in consequence of this act of
+Justinian's, continued almost without intermission for nine years--from
+A.D. 549 to 557. Its details are related at great length by Procopius
+and Agathias, who view the struggle as one which vitally concerned the
+interests of their country. According to them, Chosroes was bent upon
+holding Lazica in order to construct at the mouth of the Phasis a great
+naval station and arsenal, from which his fleets might issue to command
+the commerce or ravage the shores of the Black Sea. There is no doubt
+that the country was eminently fitted for such a purpose. The soil is
+for the most part richly fertile; the hills are everywhere covered with
+forests of noble trees; the Rion (Phasis) is deep and broad towards its
+mouth; and there are other streams also which are navigable. If Chosroes
+entertained the intentions ascribed to him, and had even begun the
+collection of timber for ship-building at Petra on the Euxine as early
+as A.D. 549, we cannot be surprised at the attitude assumed by Rome, or
+at her persistent efforts to recover possession of the Lazic territory.
+
+The war was opened by an attack upon the great centre of the Persian
+power, Petra. This place, which was strongly situated on a craggy rock
+projecting into the sea, had been carefully fortified by Justinian
+before Lazica passed into the possession of Chosroes, and had since
+received important additions to its defences at the hands of the
+Persians. It was sufficiently provisioned, and was defended by a body of
+fifteen hundred men. Dagisthseus, the Roman commander, besieged it with
+his entire force of eight thousand men, and succeeded by his constant
+attacks in reducing the garrison to little more than a fourth of its
+original number. Baffled in one attempt to effect a breach by means of
+a mine, he had contrived to construct another, and might have withdrawn
+his props, destroyed the wall, and entered the place, had he not
+conceived the idea of bargaining with the emperor for a specific reward
+in case he effected the capture. Whilst he waited for his messenger to
+bring a reply, the Persian general, Memeroes, forced the passes from
+Iberia into Lazica, and descended the valley of the Phasis with an army
+of 30,000 men. Dagisthalus in alarm withdrew, and Petra was relieved
+and revictualled. The walls were repaired hastily with sandbags, and
+the further defence was entrusted to a fresh garrison of 3000 picked
+soldiers. Mermeroes then, finding it difficult to obtain supplies for
+his large army, retired into Persarmenia, leaving only five thousand
+Persians in the country besides the garrison of Petra. This small force
+was soon afterwards surprised by the combined Romans and Lazi, who
+completely defeated it, destroying or making prisoners almost the entire
+number.
+
+In the ensuing year, A.D. 550, the Persians took the field under a fresh
+general, Chorianes, who brought with him a considerable army, composed
+of Persians and Alans. The allied Romans and Lazi, under Dagisthseus
+and Gubazes, gave battle to this new foe on the banks of the Hippis (the
+Tschenikal?); and though the Lazi, who had insisted on taking the lead
+and fighting separately, were at the first encounter routed by the
+Persian horse, yet in the end Roman discipline and stubbornness
+triumphed. Their solid line of footmen, bristling with spears, offered
+an impervious barrier to the cavalry of the enemy, which did not dare
+to charge, but had recourse to volleys of missiles. The Romans responded
+with the same; and the battle raged for a while on something like even
+terms, the superior rapidity of the Asiatics being counterbalanced by
+the better protection which their shields gave to the Europeans, until
+at last, by a stroke of fortune, Rome obtained the victory. A chance
+arrow killed Chorianes, and his army instantly fled. There was a short
+struggle at the Persian camp; but the Romans and Lazi captured it. Most
+of the Persians were here put to the sword; the few who escaped quitted
+Lazica and returned to their own country.
+
+Soon afterwards Dagisthseus was superseded by Bessas, and the siege of
+Petra was recommenced. The strength of the place had been considerably
+increased since the former attack upon it. A new wall of great height
+and solidity had been built upon a framework of wood in the place which
+Dagisthaeus had so nearly breached; the Roman mines had been filled
+up with gravel; arms, offensive and defensive, had been collected in
+extraordinary abundance; a stock of flour and of salted meat had been
+laid in sufficient to support the garrison of 3000 men for five years;
+and a store of vinegar, and of the pulse from which it was made, had
+likewise been accumulated. The Roman general began by attempting to
+repeat the device of his predecessor, attacking the defences in the same
+place and by the same means; but, just as his mine was completed, the
+new wall with its framework of wood sank quietly into the excavation,
+without suffering any disturbance of its parts, while enough of it still
+remained above the surface to offer an effectual bar to the assailants.
+It seemed hopeless to recommence the mine in this place, and elsewhere
+the nature of the ground made mining impossible; some other mode
+of attack had therefore to be adopted, or the siege must have been
+abandoned. Rome generally took towns by the battering-ram; but the
+engines in use were of such heavy construction that they could not be
+dragged up an ascent like that upon which Petra stood. Bessas was in
+extreme perplexity, when some Hunnic allies, who happened to be in
+his camp, suggested a mode of constructing a ram, as effective as the
+ordinary one, which should nevertheless be so light that it could be
+carried on the shoulders of forty men. Three such machines were quickly
+made; and under their blows the wall would soon have given way, had
+not the defenders employed against them the terrible agency of fire,
+showering upon them from the walls lighted casks of sulphur, bitumen,
+and naphtha, which last was known to the Greeks of Colchis as "Medea's
+oil." Uncertain of succeeding in this attack, the Roman general
+gallantly led a scaling party to another portion of the walls, and,
+mounting at the head of his men, attempted to make good his footing on
+the battlements. Thrown headlong to the ground, but undeterred by his
+fall, he was about to repeat his attempt, when he found it needless.
+Almost simultaneously his troops had in two other places penetrated into
+the town. One band had obtained an entrance by scaling the rocks in
+a place supposed to be inaccessible; a second owed its success to a
+combination of accidents. First, it had happened that a gap had shown
+itself in the piece of the wall which sank into the Roman mine, and a
+violent struggle had ensued between the assailants and defenders at this
+place.
+
+Then, while this fight was going on, the fire which the Persians were
+using against the Roman battering-rams had been by a shift of wind blown
+back upon themselves, and the wooden structure from which they fought
+had been ignited, and in a short time entirely consumed, together with
+its inmates. At sight of the conflagration, the Persians who stood in
+the gap had lost heart, and had allowed the Roman troops to force their
+way through it into Petra. Thus fell the great Lazic fortress, after a
+resistance which is among the most memorable in history. Of the three
+thousand defenders, seven hundred had been killed in the siege; one
+thousand and seventy were destroyed in the last assault. Only seven
+hundred and thirty were made prisoners; and of these no fewer than seven
+hundred and twelve were found to be wounded. The remaining five hundred
+threw themselves into the citadel, and there resisted to the last
+extremity, refusing all terms of capitulation, and maintaining
+themselves against an overwhelming force, until at last by sword and
+fire they perished to a man.
+
+The siege of Petra was prolonged far into the winter, and the year A.D.
+551 had begun ere the resistance ceased. Could the gallant defenders
+have maintained themselves for a few more weeks, they might not
+improbably have triumphed. Mermeroes, the Persian commander of two years
+previously, took the field with the commencement of spring, and, at the
+head of a large body of cavalry, supported by eight elephants, began
+his march to the coast, hoping to relieve the beleaguered garrison.
+Unfortunately he was too late. On his march he heard of the capture of
+Petra, and of its complete destruction by Bessas, who feared lest
+the Persians should again occupy the dangerous post. Mermeroes had no
+difficulty in establishing Persian rule through almost the whole of
+Lazica. The Romans did not dare to meet him in the field. Archssopolis,
+indeed, repulsed his attack; but no other important place in the entire
+country remained subject to the Empire. Qubazes and his followers had to
+hide themselves in the recesses of the mountains. Quartering his
+troops chiefly on the upper Phasis, about Kutais and its neighborhood,
+Mermeroes strengthened his hold on the country by building forts or
+receiving their submission, and even extended the Persian dominion
+beyond Lazica into Scymnia and Suania. Still Rome, with her usual
+tenacity, maintained a hold upon certain tracts; and Gubazes, faithful
+to his allies even in the extremity of their depression, maintained a
+guerilla war, and hoped that some day fortune would cease to frown on
+him.
+
+Meanwhile, at Byzantium, fresh negotiations were in progress, and hopes
+were entertained of an arrangement by which all the differences between
+the two great powers would be satisfactorily adjusted. Isdigunas
+again represented his master at the Byzantine court, and conducted the
+diplomatic contest with skill and ability. Taxing Justinian with more
+than one infraction of the truce concluded in A.D. 545, he demanded the
+payment of a lump sum of two thousand six hundred pounds of gold, and
+expressed the willingness of Chosroes to conclude on these terms a fresh
+truce for five years, to take effect from the delivery of the money.
+With regard to the extent of country whereto the truce should apply, he
+agreed to an express limitation of its range--the settled provinces of
+both empires should be protected by it, but Lazica and the country of
+the Saracens should be excluded from its operation. Justinian consented
+to these terms, despite the opposition of many of his subjects, who
+thought that Rome degraded herself by her repeated payments of money
+to Persia, and accepted a position little better than that of a Persian
+tributary.
+
+Thus the peace of A.D. 551 did nothing towards ending the Lazic war,
+which, after languishing through the whole of A.D. burst out again with
+renewed vigor in the spring of A.D. 553. Mermeroes in that year advanced
+from Kutais against Telephis, a strong fort in the possession of Rome,
+expelled the commandant, Martinus, by a stratagem, pressed forward
+against the combined Roman forces, which fled before him from Ollaria,
+and finally drove them to the coast and cooped them up in "the Island,"
+a small tract near the mouth of the Phasis between that stream and the
+Doconus. On his return he was able to reinforce a garrison which he had
+established at Onoguris in the immediate neighborhood of Archseopolis,
+as a means of annoying and weakening that important station. He may
+naturally have hoped in one or two more campaigns to have driven the
+last Roman out of the country and to have attached Lazica permanently
+to the empire of the great king.
+
+Unluckily, however, for Persia, the fatigues which the gallant veteran
+had undergone in the campaign of A.D. 553 proved more than his aged
+frame could endure, and he had scarcely reached Kutais when he was
+seized with a fatal malady, to which he succumbed in the course of the
+winter. Chosroes appointed as his successor a certain Nachoragan, who
+is said to have been a general of repute, but who proved himself quite
+unequal to the position which he was called upon to fill, and in the
+course of two years ruined the Persian cause in Lazica. The failure
+was the more signal from the fact that exactly at the time of his
+appointment circumstances occurred which seriously shook the Roman
+influence over the Lazi, and opened a prospect to Persia transcending
+aught that she could reasonably have hoped. This was nothing less than
+a most serious quarrel between Gubazes, the Lazic king, and some of the
+principal Roman commanders--a quarrel which involved consequences fatal
+to both parties. Gubazes, disgusted with the negligence or incapacity
+of the Roman chiefs, had made complaint of them to Justinian; they had
+retaliated by accusing him of meditating desertion, and had obtained
+the emperor's consent to his arrest, and to the use of violence if he
+offered resistance. Armed with this mandate, they contrived in a little
+time to fasten a quarrel upon him; and, when he declined to do as they
+required, they drew their swords upon him and slew him. The Lazic nation
+was, naturally enough, alienated by this outrage, and manifested an
+inclination to throw itself absolutely into the arms of Persia. The
+Romans, dispirited at the attitude of their allies, and at variance
+among themselves, could for some months after Gubazes' death have
+offered but little resistance to an enterprising enemy. So demoralized
+were they that an army of 50,000 is said to have fled in dismay when
+attacked by a force of Persians less than a twelfth of their number,
+and to have allowed their camp to be captured and plundered. During
+this critical time Nachoragan remained inactive in Iberia, and contented
+himself with sending messengers into Lazica to announce his near
+approach and to animate and encourage his party. The result was such as
+might have been expected. The Lazi, finding that Persia made no effort
+to take advantage of their abstention, and that Rome despite of it
+maintained possession of the greater portion of their country, came to
+the conclusion that it would be unwise to desert their natural allies
+on account of a single outrage, however monstrous, and agreed to renew
+their close alliance with Rome on condition that the murderers of
+Gubazes should be punished, and his brother, Tzathes, appointed king in
+his place. Justinian readily gave his consent; and the year A.D. 555 saw
+the quarrel ended, and the Lazi once more heartily in accord with, their
+Roman protectors.
+
+It was when affairs were in this state, and he had exactly missed his
+opportunity, that Nachoragan took the field, and, advancing from Iberia
+into the region about Kutai's with an army amounting to 60,000 men,1
+made preparations for carrying on the war with vigor. He was opposed by
+Martinus, Justin, and Babas, the two former of whom with the bulk of
+the Roman forces occupied the region on the lower Phasis, known as "the
+Island," while Babas held the more central position of Archseopolis.
+Nachoragan, after losing about 2,000 of his best troops in the vicinity
+of this last-named place, resolved to challenge the Romans to a decisive
+encounter by attacking the important post of Phasis at the mouth of the
+river. With some skill he succeeded in passing the Roman camp on the
+island, and in establishing himself in the plain directly south of
+Phasis before the Roman generals guessed his purpose. They, however,
+were able by a quick movement to throw themselves into the town, and the
+struggle became one between fairly balanced forces, and was conducted
+with great obstinacy. The town was defended on the south by an outer
+palisade, a broad ditch protected by sharp stakes and full of water, and
+an inner bulwark of considerable height but constructed wholly of wood.
+The Phasis guarded it on the north; and here a Roman fleet was stationed
+which lent its aid to the defenders at the two extremities of their
+line. The yards of the ships were manned with soldiers, and boats
+were hung from them containing slingers, archers, and even workers of
+catapults, who delivered their weapons from an elevation exceeding that
+of the towers. But Nachoragan had the advantage of numbers; his men soon
+succeeded in filling up part of the ditch; and the wooden bulwark could
+scarcely have long resisted his attacks, if the contest had continued
+to be wholly one of brute strength. But the Roman commander, Martinus,
+finding himself inferior in force, brought finesse and stratagem to his
+aid. Pretending to receive intelligence of the sudden arrival of a fresh
+Roman army from Byzantium, he contrived that the report should reach
+Nachoragan and thereby cause him to divide his troops, and send half of
+them to meet the supposed reinforcements. Then, when the Persian general
+nevertheless renewed his assault, Martinus sent secretly 5,000 men under
+Justin to a short distance from Phasis; and this detachment, appearing
+suddenly when the contest was going on at the wall, was naturally taken
+for the newly arrived army, and caused a general panic. The Persians,
+one and all, took to flight; a general sally was made by the Romans in
+Phasis; a rout and a carnage followed, which completely disheartened
+the Persian leader, and led him to give up his enterprise. Having lost
+nearly one-fourth of his army, Nachoragan drew off to Kutai's, and
+shortly afterwards, leaving the command of the Persians in Lazica to
+Vaphrizes, retired to winter quarters in Iberia.
+
+The failure of Nachoragan, following closely upon the decision of the
+Lazi to maintain their alliance with Rome in spite of the murder
+of Gubazes, seems to have convinced the Persian monarch that, in
+endeavoring to annex Lazica, he had engaged in a hopeless enterprise,
+and that it would be the most prudent and judicious course to yield
+to the inevitable, and gradually withdraw from a position which was
+untenable. Having meted out to Nachoragan the punishment usually
+assigned to unsuccessful commanders in Persia, he sent an ambassador to
+Byzantium in the spring of A.D. 556, and commenced negotiations which
+he intended to be serious. Diplomacy seems to have been as averse in the
+days of Chosroes as in our own to an undignified rapidity of proceeding.
+Hence, though there could be little to debate where both parties were
+substantially at one, the negotiations begun in May A.D. 556 were not
+concluded till after the commencement of the following year. A complete
+suspension of hostilities was then agreed upon, to extend to Lazica no
+less than to the other dominions of the two monarchs. In Lazica each
+party was to keep what it possessed, territory, cities, and castles. As
+this joint occupation was scarcely suitable for a permanent arrangement,
+it was provided that the two belligerents should, during the continuance
+of the truce, proceed to settle the terms on which a lasting peace might
+be established.
+
+An interval of five years elapsed before the happy result, for which
+both parties had expressed themselves anxious, was accomplished. It is
+uncertain how Chosroes was occupied during this period; but there are
+some grounds for believing that he was engaged in the series of Oriental
+wars whereof we shall have to speak presently. Success appears to have
+crowned his arms wherever he directed them; but he remained undazzled by
+his victories, and still retained the spirit of moderation which had
+led him in A.D. 557 to conclude the general truce. He was even prepared,
+after five years of consideration, to go further in the line of pacific
+policy on which he had then entered, and, in order to secure the
+continuance of his good relations with Rome, was willing to relinquish
+all claim to the sovereignty of Lazica. Under these circumstances,
+ambassadors of the highest rank, representing the two powers, met on the
+frontier between Daras and Nisibis, proclaimed the power and explained
+the motives of their respective sovereigns, and after a lengthy
+conference formulated a treaty of peace. The terms, which are given
+at length by a writer of the succeeding generation, may be briefly
+expressed as follows: (1) the Persians were to withdraw from Lazica, to
+give up all claim to it, and to hand over its possession to the Romans;
+(2) they were in return to receive from Rome an annual sum of 30,000
+pieces of gold, the amount due for the first seven years being paid in
+advance; (3) the Christians in Persia were guaranteed the full and free
+exercise of their religion, but were forbidden to make converts from
+the disciples of Zoroaster; (4) commercial intercourse was to be allowed
+between the two empires, but the merchants were restricted to the use of
+certain roads and certain emporia; (5) diplomatic intercourse was to be
+wholly free, and the goods of ambassadors were to be exempt from duty;
+(6) Daras was to continue a fortified town, but no new fortresses were
+to be built upon the frontier by either nation, and Daras itself was not
+to be made the headquarters of the Prefect of the East, or to be held
+by an unnecessarily large garrison; (7) all disputes arising between
+the two nations were to be determined by courts of arbitration; (8)
+the allies of the two nations were to be included in the treaty, and to
+participate in its benefits and obligations; (9) Persia was to undertake
+the sole charge of maintaining the Caspian Gates against the Huns and
+Alans; (10) the peace was made for a period of fifty years. It has been
+held that by this treaty Justinian consented to become a tributary of
+the Persian Empire; and undoubtedly it was possible for Oriental vanity
+to represent the arrangement made in this light. But the million and a
+half, which Rome undertook to pay in the course of the next fifty years,
+might well be viewed by the Romans as an outlay for which they received
+an ample return in the cession to them of the Persian part of Lazica,
+and in the termination of their obligation to contribute towards the
+maintenance of the Caspian Gates. If there was any real danger of those
+results following from the Persian occupation of Lazica which both
+nations anticipated, the sum must be considered to have been one of the
+best investments ever made by a State. Even if we believe the dangers
+apprehended to have been visionary, yet it cannot be viewed as an
+exorbitant price to have paid for a considerable tract of fertile
+country, a number of strong fortresses, and the redemption of an
+obligation which could not with honor be disowned.
+
+To Chosroes the advantage secured by the treaty was similar to that
+which Rome had obtained by the peace of A.D. 532. Being no longer
+under any necessity of employing his forces against the Romans in the
+north-west, he found himself free to act with greatly increased effect
+against his enemies in the east and in the south. Already, in the
+interval between the conclusion of the general truce and of the fifty
+years' peace, he had, as it seems, invaded the territories of the
+Ephthalites, and, with the help of the Great Khan of the Turks,
+inflicted upon this people, so long one of Persia's most formidable
+enemies, a severe defeat. According to Tabari, he actually slew the
+Ephthalite monarch, ravaged his territory, and pillaged his treasures.
+About the same time he had also had a war with the Khazars, had overrun
+their country, wasted it with fire and sword, and massacred thousands of
+the inhabitants. He now entertained designs against Arabia and perhaps
+India, countries on which he could not hope to make an impression
+without earnest and concentrated effort. It was doubtless with the view
+of extending his influence into these quarters that the Persian monarch
+evacuated Lazica, and bound his country to maintain peace with Rome for
+the next half-century.
+
+The position of affairs in Arabia was at the time abnormal and
+interesting. For the most part that vast but sterile region has been the
+home of almost countless tribes, living independently of one another,
+each under its own sheikh or chief, in wild and unrestrained freedom.
+Native princes have seldom obtained any widely extended dominion over
+the scattered population; and foreign powers have still more rarely
+exercised authority for any considerable period over the freedom-loving
+descendants of Ishmael. But towards the beginning of the sixth century
+of our era the Abyssinians of Axum, a Christian people, "raised" far
+"above the ordinary level of African barbarism" by their religion and
+by their constant intercourse with Rome, succeeded in attaching to their
+empire a large portion of the Happy Arabia, and ruled it at first from
+their African capital, but afterwards by means of a viceroy, whose
+dependence on the Negus of Abyssinia was little more than nominal.
+Abraha, an Abyssinian of high rank, being deputed by the Negus to
+re-establish the authority of Abyssinia over the Yemen when it was
+shaken by a great revolt, made himself master of the country, assumed
+the crown, established Abyssinians in all the chief cities, built
+numerous churches, especially one of great beauty at Sana, and at
+his death left the kingdom to his eldest son, Yaksoum. An important
+Christian state was thus established in the Great Peninsula; and it was
+natural that Justinian should see with satisfaction, and Chosroes with
+some alarm, the growth of a power in this quarter which was sure to side
+with Rome and against Persia, if their rivalry should extend into
+these parts. Justinian had hailed with pleasure the original Abyssinian
+conquest, and had entered into amicable relations with both the Axumites
+and their colonists in the Yemen. Chosroes now resolved upon a counter
+movement. He would employ the quiet secured to him by the peace of A.D.
+562 in a great attack upon the Abyssinian power in Arabia. He would
+drive the audacious Africans from the soil of Asia, and would earn the
+eternal gratitude of the numerous tribes of the desert. He would extend
+Persian influence to the shores of the Arabian Gulf, and so confront the
+Romans along the whole line of their eastern boundary. He would destroy
+the _point d'appui_ which Rome had acquired in South-western Asia, and
+so at once diminish her power and augment the strength and glory of
+Persia.
+
+The interference of Chosroes in the affairs of a country so distant as
+Western Arabia involved considerable difficulties; but his expedition
+was facilitated by an application which he received from a native of the
+district in question. Saif, the son of Dsu-Yezm, descended from the race
+of the old Homerite kings whom the Abyssinians had conquered, grew up at
+the court of Abraha in the belief that that prince, who had married his
+mother, was not his step-father, but his father. Undeceived by an insult
+which Masrouq, the true son of Abraha and successor of Yaksoum, offered
+him, Saif became a refugee at the court of Chosroes, and importuned the
+Great King to embrace his quarrel and reinstate him on the throne of
+his fathers. He represented the Homerite population of Yemen as groaning
+under the yoke of their oppressors and only waiting for an opportunity
+to rise in revolt and shake it off. A few thousand Persian troops,
+enough to form the nucleus of an army, would suffice; they might be sent
+by sea to the port of Aden, near the mouth of the Arabian Gulf, where
+the Homerites would join them in large numbers; the combined forces
+might then engage in combat with the Abyssinians, and destroy them or
+drive them from the land. Chosroes took the advice tendered him, so far
+at any rate as to make his expedition by sea. His ships were assembled
+in the Persian Gulf; a certain number of Persian troops were embarked on
+board them; and the flotilla proceeded, under the conduct of Saif, first
+to the mouth of the Gulf, and then along the southern coast of Arabia
+to Aden. Encouraged by their presence, the Plomerites rose against their
+foreign oppressors; a war followed, of which the particulars have been
+disfigured by romance; but the result is undoubted--the Abyssinian
+strangers were driven from the soil of Arabia; the native race recovered
+its supremacy; and Saif, the descendant of the old Homerite kings, was
+established, as the vassal or viceroy of Chosroes, on the throne of his
+ancestors. This arrangement, however, was not lasting. Saif, after a
+short reign, was murdered by his body-guard; and Chosroes then conferred
+the government of Yemen upon a Persian officer, who seems to have borne
+the usual title of Marzpan, and to have been in no way distinguished
+above other rulers of provinces. Thus the Homerites in the end gained
+nothing by their revolt but a change of masters. They may, however, have
+regarded the change as one worth making, since it gave them the mild
+sway of a tolerant heathen in lieu of the persecuting rule of Christian
+bigots.
+
+According to some writers, Chosroes also, in his later years, sent an
+expedition by sea against some portion of Hindustan, and received a
+cession of territory from an Indian monarch. But the country of the
+monarch is too remote for belief, and the ceded provinces seem to have
+belonged to Persia previously. It is therefore, perhaps, most probable
+that friendly intercourse has been exaggerated into conquest, and the
+reception of presents from an Indian potentate metamorphosed into the
+gain of territory. Some authorities do not assign to Chosroes any Indian
+dominion; and it is at least doubtful whether he made any expedition in
+this direction.
+
+A war, however, appears certainly to have occupied Chosroes about
+this period on his north-eastern frontier. The Turks had recently been
+advancing in strength and drawing nearer to the confines of Persia. They
+had extended their dominion over the great Ephthalite kingdom, partly by
+force of arms, partly through the treachery of Katulphus, an Ephthalite
+chieftain; they had received the submission of the Sogdians, and
+probably of other tribes of the Transoxianian region, previously held in
+subjection by the Ephthalites; and they aspired to be acknowledged as a
+great power, the second, if not the first, in this part of Asia. It was
+perhaps rather with the view of picking a quarrel than in the hope
+of any valuable pacific result, that, about the close of A.D. 567,
+Diza-bul, the Turkish Khan, sent ambassadors to Chosroes with proposals
+for the establishment of free commercial intercourse between the Turks
+and Persians, and even for the conclusion of a treaty of friendship and
+alliance between the two nations. Chosroes suspected the motive for the
+overture, but was afraid openly to reject it. He desired to discourage
+intercourse between his own nation and the Turks, but could devise
+no better mode of effecting his purpose than by burning the Turkish
+merchandise offered to him after he had bought it, and by poisoning the
+ambassadors and giving out that they had fallen victims to the climate.
+His conduct exasperated the Turkish Khan, and created a deep and bitter
+hostility between the Turks and Persians. It was at once resolved to
+send an embassy to Constantinople and offer to the Greek emperor the
+friendship which Chosroes had scorned. The embassy reached the Byzantine
+court early in A.D. 568, and was graciously received by Justin, the
+nephew of Justinian, who had succeeded his uncle on the imperial throne
+between three and four years previously. A treaty of alliance was made
+between the two nations; and a Roman embassy, empowered to ratify it,
+visited the Turkish court in the Altai mountains during the course
+of the next year (A.D. 569), and drew closer the bonds of friendship
+between the high contracting powers. But meanwhile Dizabul, confident in
+his own strength, had determined on an expedition into Persia. The Roman
+ambassador, Zemarchus, accompanied him on a portion of his march, and
+witnessed his insulting treatment of a Persian envoy, sent by
+Chosroes to meet him and deprecate his attack. Beyond this point exact
+information fails us; but we may suspect that this is the expedition
+commemorated by Mirk-hond, wherein the Great Khan, having invaded the
+Persian territory in force, made himself master of Shash, Ferghana,
+Samarkand, Bokhara, Kesh, and Nesf, but, hearing that Hornisdas, son
+of Chosroes, was advancing against him at the head of a numerous army,
+suddenly fled, evacuating all the country that he had occupied, and
+retiring to the most distant portion of Turkestan. At any rate the
+expedition cannot have had any great success; for shortly afterwards
+(A.D. 571) we find Turkish ambassadors once more visiting the Byzantine
+court, and entreating Justin to renounce the fifty years' peace and
+unite with them in a grand attack upon the common enemy, which, if
+assaulted simultaneously on either side, might (they argued) be almost
+certainly crushed. Justin gave the ambassadors no definite reply, but
+renewed the alliance with Dizabul, and took seriously into consideration
+the question whether he should not yield to the representations made
+to him, and renew the war which Justinian had terminated nine years
+previously.
+
+There were many circumstances which urged him towards a rupture. The
+payments to be made under the fifty years' peace had in his eyes the
+appearance of a tribute rendered by Rome to Persia, which was, he
+thought, an intolerable disgrace. A subsidy, not very dissimilar, which
+Justinian had allowed the Saracenic Arabs under Persian rule, he had
+already discontinued; and hostilities had, in consequence, already
+commenced between the Persian and the Roman Saracens. The successes
+of Chosroes in Western Arabia had at once provoked his jealousy,
+and secured to Rome, in that quarter, an important ally in the great
+Christian kingdom of Abyssinia. The Turks of Central Asia had sought his
+friendship and offered to combine their attacks with his, if he would
+consent to go to war. Moreover, there was once more discontent and
+even rebellion in Armenia, where the proselytizing zeal of the Persian
+governors had again driven the natives to take up arms and raise the
+standard of independence. Above all, the Great King, who had warred with
+such success for twenty years against his uncle, was now in advanced
+age, and seemed to have given signs of feebleness, inasmuch as in his
+recent expeditions he had individually taken no part, but had entrusted
+the command of his troops to others. Under these circumstances, Justin,
+in the year A.D. 572, determined to renounce the peace made ten
+years earlier with the Persians, and to recommence the old struggle.
+Accordingly he at once dismissed the Persian envoy, Sebocthes, with
+contempt, refused wholly to make the stipulated payment, proclaimed his
+intention of receiving the Armenian insurgents under his protection,
+and bade Chosroes lay a finger on them at his peril. He then appointed
+Marcian to the prefecture of the East, and gave him the conduct of the
+war which was now inevitable.
+
+No sooner did the Persian monarch find his kingdom seriously menaced
+than, despite his advanced age, he immediately took the field in person.
+Giving the command of a flying column of 6000 men to Adarman, a skilful
+general, he marched himself against the Romans, who under Marcian had
+defeated a Persian force, and were besieging Nisibis, forced them to
+raise the siege, and, pressing forward as they retired, compelled them
+to seek shelter within the walls of Daras, which he proceeded to
+invest with his main army. Meanwhile Adarman, at the head of the troops
+entrusted to him, crossed the Euphrates near Circesium, and, having
+entered Syria, carried fire and sword far and wide over that fertile
+province. Repulsed from Antioch, where, however, he burnt the suburbs
+of the town, he invaded Coelesyria, took and destroyed Apamea, and then,
+recrossing the great river, rejoined Chosroes before Daras. The renowned
+fortress made a brave defence. For about five months it resisted,
+without obtaining any relief, the entire force of Chosroes, who is said
+to have besieged it with 40,000 horse and 100,000 foot. At last, on the
+approach of winter, it could no longer hold out; enclosed within lines
+of circumvallation, and deprived of water by the diversion of its
+streams into new channels, it found itself reduced to extremity, and
+forced to submit towards the close of A.D. 573. Thus the great Roman
+fortress in these parts was lost in the first year of the renewed war;
+and Justin, alarmed at his own temerity, and recognizing his weakness,
+felt it necessary to retire from the conduct of affairs, and deliver
+the reins of empire to stronger hands. He chose as his coadjutor and
+successor the Count Tiberius, a Thracian by birth, who had long stood
+high in his confidence; and this prince, in conjunction with the Empress
+Sophia, now took the direction of the war.
+
+The first need was to obtain a breathing-space. The Persian king having
+given an opening for negotiations, advantage was taken of it by the
+joint rulers to send an envoy, furnished with an autograph letter from
+the empress, and well provided with the best persuasives of peace, who
+was to suggest an armistice for a year, during which a satisfactory
+arrangement of the whole quarrel might be agreed upon. Tiberius thought
+that within this space he might collect an army sufficiently powerful
+to re-establish the superiority of the Roman arms in the east; Chosroes
+believed himself strong enough to defeat any force that Rome could now
+bring into the field. A truce for a year was therefore concluded, at the
+cost to Rome of 45,000 aurei; and immense efforts were at once made by
+Tiberius to levy troops from his more distant, provinces, or hire them
+from the lands beyond his borders. An army of 150,000 men was, it
+is said, collected from the banks of the Danube and the Rhine, from
+Scythia, Pannonia, Moesia, Illyricum, and Isauria; a general of repute,
+Justinian, the son of Germanus, was selected to command them; and the
+whole force was concentrated upon the eastern frontier but, after all
+these preparations, the Caesar's heart failed him, and, instead of
+offering battle to the enemy, Tiberius sent a second embassy to the
+Persian head-quarters, early in A.D. 575, and besought an extension of
+the truce. The Romans desired a short term of peace only, but wished for
+a general suspension of hostilities between the nations; the Persians
+advocated a longer interval, but insisted that the truce should not
+extend to Armenia. The dispute continued till the armistice for a year
+had run out; and the Persians had resumed hostilities and threatened
+Constantina before the Romans would give way. At length it was agreed
+that there should be peace for three years, but that Armenia should
+be exempt from its operation. Rome was to pay to Persia, during the
+continuance of the truce, the sum of 30,000 aurei annually.
+
+No sooner was the peace concluded than Chosroes put himself at the
+head of his army, and, entering Armenia Proper, proceeded to crush the
+revolt, and to re-establish the Persian authority throughout the entire
+region. No resistance was offered to him; and he was able, before the
+close of the year, to carry his arms into the Roman territory of Armenia
+Minor, and even to threaten Cappadocia. Here Justinian opposed his
+progress; and in a partial engagement, Kurs (or Cursus), a leader of
+Scythians in the Roman service, obtained an advantage over the Persian
+rear-guard, captured the camp and the baggage, but did not succeed in
+doing any serious damage. Chosroes soon afterwards revenged himself by
+surprising and destroying a Roman camp during the night; he then took
+and burnt the city of Melitene (Malatiyeh); after which, as winter was
+approaching, he retired across the Euphrates, and returned into his own
+country. Hereupon Justinian seems to have invaded Persian Armenia, and
+to have enriched his troops with its plunder; according to some writers,
+he even penetrated as far as the Caspian Sea, and embarked upon its
+waters; he continued on Persian soil during the whole of the winter, and
+it was not till the spring came that he re-entered Roman territory (A.D.
+576).
+
+The campaign of A.D. 576 is somewhat obscure. The Romans seem to have
+gained certain advantages in Northern Armenia and Iberia, while Chosroes
+on his part carried the war once more into Armenia Minor, and laid siege
+to Theodosiopolis, which, however, he was unable to take. Negotiations
+were upon this resumed, and had progressed favorably to a certain,
+point, when news arrived of a great disaster to the Roman arms in
+Armenia, which changed the face of affairs and caused the Persian
+negotiators to break up the conference. Tam-chosro, a Persian general,
+had completely defeated the Roman army under Justinian. Armenia had
+returned to its allegiance. There seemed every reason to believe that
+more was to be gained by arms than by diplomacy, and that, when the
+three years peace had run out, the Great King might renew the general
+war with a prospect of obtaining important successes.
+
+There are no military events which can be referred to the year A.D.
+577. The Romans and Persians amused each other with alternate embassies
+during its course, and with negotiations that were not intended to have
+any result. The two monarchs made vast preparations; and with the spring
+of A.D. 578 hostilities recommenced. Chosroes is accused of having
+anticipated the expiration of the truce by a period of forty days; but
+it is more probable that he and the Romans estimated the date of
+its expiration differently. However this was, it is certain that his
+generals, Mebodes and Sapoes, took the field in early spring with 20,000
+horse, and entering the Roman Armenia laid waste the country, at the
+same time threatening Constantina and Theodosiopolis. Simultaneously
+Tamchosro, quitting Persarmenia, marched westward and plundered the
+country about Amida (Diarbekr). The Roman commander Maurice, who had
+succeeded Justinian, possessed considerable military ability. On this
+occasion, instead of following the ordinary plan of simply standing
+on the defensive and endeavoring to repulse the invaders, he took the
+bolder course of making a counter movement. Entering Persarmenia, which
+he found denuded of troops, he carried all before him, destroying the
+forts, and plundering the country. Though the summer heats brought
+on him an attack of fever, he continued without pause his destructive
+march; invaded and occupied Arzanene, with its stronghold, Aphumon,
+carried off the population to the number of 10,090, and, pressing
+forwards from Arzanene into Eastern Mesopotamia, took Singara, and
+carried fire and sword over the entire region as far as the Tigris.
+He even ventured to throw a body of skirmishers across the river into
+Cordyene (Kurdistan); and these ravagers, who were commanded by Kurs,
+the Scythian, spread devastation over a district where no Roman soldier
+had set foot since its cession by Jovian. Agathias tells us that
+Chosroes was at the time enjoying his summer villeggiatura in the
+Kurdish hills, and saw from his residence the smoke of the hamlets which
+the Roman troops had fired. He hastily fled from the danger, and shut
+himself up within the walls of Ctesiphon, where he was soon afterwards
+seized with the illness which brought his life to a close.
+
+Meanwhile Kurs, unconscious probably of the prize that had been so near
+his grasp, recrossed the Tigris with his booty and rejoined Maurice, who
+on the approach of winter withdrew into Roman territory, evacuating all
+his conquests excepting Arzanene. The dull time of winter was, as usual,
+spent in negotiations; and it was thought that a peace might have been
+concluded had Chosroes lived. Tiberius was anxious to recover Daras,
+and was willing to withdraw the Roman forces wholly from Persarmenia and
+Iberia, and to surrender Arzanene and Aphumon, if Daras were restored to
+him. He would probably have been content even to pay in addition a sum
+of money. Chosroes might perhaps have accepted these terms; but while
+the envoys empowered to propose them were on their way to his court,
+early in the year A.D. 579, the aged monarch died in his palace at
+Ctesiphon after a reign of forty-eight years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+_Administration of Persia under Chosroes I. Fourfold Division of the
+Empire. Careful Surveillance of those entrusted with Poiver. Severe
+Punishment of Abuse of Trust. New System of Taxation introduced.
+Correction of Abuse connected with the Military Service. Encouragement
+of Agriculture and Marriage. Belief of Poverty. Care for Travellers.
+Encouragement of Learning. Practice of Toleration within certain Limits.
+Domestic Life of Chosroes. His Wives. Revolt and Death of his Son,
+Nushizad. Coins of Chosroes. Estimate of his Character._
+
+
+A general consensus of the Oriental writers marks the reign of the first
+Chosroes as a period not only of great military activity, but also
+of improved domestic administration. Chosroes found the empire in a
+disordered and ill-regulated condition, taxation arranged on a bad
+system, the people oppressed by unjust and tyrannical governors,
+the military service a prey to the most scandalous abuses, religious
+fanaticism rampant, class at variance with class, extortion and wrong
+winked at, crime unpunished, agriculture languishing, and the masses
+throughout almost the whole of the country sullen and discontented.
+It was his resolve from the first to carry out a series of reforms--to
+secure the administration of even-handed justice, to put the finances on
+a better footing, to encourage agriculture, to relieve the poor and the
+distressed, to root out the abuses that destroyed the efficiency of the
+army, and to excise the gangrene of fanaticism which was eating into
+the heart of the nation. How he effected the last named object by
+his wholesale destruction of the followers of Mazdak has been already
+related; but it appeared unadvisable to interrupt, the military history
+of the reign by combining with it any account of the numerous other
+reforms which he accomplished. It remains therefore to consider them in
+this place, since they are certainly not the least remarkable among the
+many achievements of this great monarch.
+
+Persia, until the time of Anushirwan, had been divided into a multitude
+of provinces, the satraps or governors of which held their office
+directly under the crown. It was difficult for the monarch to exercise
+a sufficient superintendence over so large a number of rulers, many
+of them remote from the court, and all united by a common interest.
+Chosroes conceived the plan of forming four great governments, and
+entrusting them to four persons in whom he had confidence, whose duty
+it should be to watch the conduct of the provincial satraps to control
+them, direct them, or report their misconduct to the crown. The four
+great governments were those of the east, the north, the south, and
+the west. The east comprised Khorassan, Seistan, and Kirman; the north,
+Armenia, Azer-bijan, Ghilan, Koum, and Isfahan; the south, Fars and
+Ahwaz; the west, Irak, or Babylonia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia.
+
+It was not the intention of the monarch, however, to put a blind trust
+in his instruments. He made personal progresses through his empire from,
+time to time, visiting each province in turn and inquiring into the
+condition of the inhabitants. He employed continually an army of
+inspectors and spies, who reported to him from all quarters the
+sufferings or complaints of the oppressed, and the neglects or misdoings
+of those in authority. On the occurrence of any specially suspicious
+circumstance, he appointed extraordinary commissions of inquiry,
+which, armed with all the power of the crown, proceeded to the suspected
+quarter, took evidence, and made a careful report of whatever wrongs or
+malpractices they discovered.
+
+When guilt was brought home to incriminated persons or parties, the
+punishment with which they were visited was swift and signal. We have
+seen how harsh were the sentences passed by Chosroes upon those whose
+offences attacked his own person or dignity. An equal severity appears
+in his judgments, where there was no question of his own wrongs, but
+only of the interests of his subjects. On one occasion he is said to
+have executed no fewer than eighty collectors of taxes on the report of
+a commission charging them with extortion. Among the principal reforms
+which Chosroes is said to have introduced was his fresh arrangement
+of the taxation. Hitherto all lands had paid to the State a certain
+proportion of their produce, a proportion which varied, according to the
+estimated richness of the soil, from a tenth to one-half. The effect was
+to discourage all improved cultivation, since it was quite possible that
+the whole profit of any increased outlay might be absorbed by the State,
+and also to cramp and check the liberty of the cultivators in various
+ways, since the produce could not be touched until the revenue official
+made his appearance and carried off the share of the crop which he had
+a right to take. Chosroes resolved to substitute a land-tax for the
+proportionate payments in kind, and thus at once to set the cultivator
+at liberty with respect to harvesting his crops and to allow him the
+entire advantage of any augumented production which might be secured by
+better methods of farming his land. His tax consisted in part of a money
+payment, in part of a payment in kind; but both payments were fixed and
+invariable, each measure of ground being rated in the king's books at
+one dirhem and one measure of the produce. Uncultivated land, and land
+lying fallow at the time, were exempt; and thus the scheme involved,
+not one survey alone, but a recurring (annual) survey, and an annual
+registration of all cultivators, with the quantity of land under
+cultivation held by each, and the nature of the crop or crops to be
+grown by them. The system was one of much complication, and may have
+pressed somewhat hardly upon the poorer and less productive soils; but
+it was an immense improvement upon the previously existing practice,
+which had all the disadvantages of the modern tithe system, aggravated
+by the high rates exacted and by the certainty that, in any disputed
+case, the subject would have had a poor chance of establishing his right
+against the crown. It is not surprising that the caliphs, when they
+conquered Persia, maintained unaltered the land system of Chosroes which
+they found established, regarding it as, if not perfect, at any rate not
+readily admitting of much improvement.
+
+Besides the tax upon arable lands, of which we have hitherto spoken,
+Chosroes introduced into into Persia various other imposts. The fruit
+trees were everywhere counted, and a small payment required for each.
+The personality of the citizens was valued, and a graduated property-tax
+established, which, however, in the case of the most opulent, did not
+exceed the moderate sum of forty-eight dirhems (about twenty-seven
+shillings). A poll-tax was required of Jews and Christians, whereof we
+do not know the amount. From all these burdens liberal exemptions were
+made on account of age and sex; no female paid anything; and males above
+fifty years of age or under twenty were also free of charge. Due notice
+was given to each individual of the sum for which he was liable, by
+the publication in each province, town, and village, of a tax table, in
+which each citizen or alien could see against his name the amount about
+to be claimed of him, with the ground upon which it was regarded as due.
+Payment had to made by instalments, three times each year, at the end of
+every four months.
+
+In order to prevent the unfair extortion, which in the ancient world
+was always, with reason or without, charged upon collectors of revenue,
+Chosroes, by the advice of the Grand Mobed, authorized the Magian
+priests everywhere to exercise a supervision over the receivers of
+taxes, and to hinder them from exacting more than their due. The priests
+were only too happy to discharge this popular function; and extortion
+must have become rare under a system which comprised so efficient a
+safeguard.
+
+Another change ascribed to Chosroes is a reform of the administration of
+the army. Under the system previously existing, Chosroes found that
+the resources of the state were lavishly wasted, and the result was a
+military force inefficient and badly accoutred. No security was taken
+that the soldiers possessed their proper equipments or could discharge
+the duties appropriate to their several grades. Persons came before the
+paymaster, claiming the wages of a cavalry soldier, who possessed
+no horse, and had never learned to ride. Some, who called themselves
+soldiers, had no knowledge of the use of any weapon at all; others
+claimed for higher grades of the service than those whereto they really
+belonged; those who drew the pay of cuirassiers were destitute of a coat
+of mail; those who professed themselves archers were utterly incompetent
+to draw the bow. The established rates of pay varied between a hundred
+dirhems a year and four thousand, and persons entitled to the lowest
+rate often received an amount not much short of the highest. The evil
+was not only that the treasury was robbed by unfair claims and unfounded
+pretences, but that artifice and false seeming were encouraged, while
+at the same time the army was brought into such a condition that no
+dependence could be placed upon it. If the number who actually served
+corresponded to that upon the rolls, which is uncertain, at any rate all
+the superior arms of the service fell below their nominal strength, and
+the lower grades were crowded with men who were only soldiers in name.
+
+As a remedy against these evils, Chosroes appointed a single
+paymaster-general, and insisted on his carefully inspecting and
+reviewing each body of troops before he allowed it to draw its pay. Each
+man was to appear before him fully equipped and to show his proficiency
+with his weapon or weapons; horse soldiers were to bring their horses,
+and to exhibit their mastery over the animals by putting them through
+their paces, mounting and dismounting, and performing the other usual
+exercises. If any clumsiness were noted, or any deficiency in the
+equipment, the pay was to be withheld until the defect observed had been
+made good. Special care was to be taken that no one drew the pay of a
+class superior to that whereto he really belonged--of an archer, for
+instance, when he was in truth a common soldier, or of a trooper when he
+served not in the horse, but in the foot.
+
+A curious anecdote is related in connection with these military reforms.
+When Babek, the new paymaster, was about to hold his first review, he
+issued an order that all persons belonging to the army then present in
+the capital should appear before him on a certain day. The troops came;
+but Babek dismissed them on the ground that a certain person whose
+presence was indispensable had not made his appearance. Another day
+was appointed, with the same result, except that Babek on this occasion
+plainly intimated that it was the king whom he expected to attend. Upon
+this Chosroes, when a third summons was issued, took care to be present,
+and came fully equipped, as he thought, for battle. But the critical
+eye of the reviewing officer detected an omission, which he refused
+to overlook--the king had neglected to bring with him two extra
+bow-strings. Chosroes was required to go back to his palace and remedy
+the defect, after which he was allowed to pass muster, and then summoned
+to receive his pay. Babek affected to consider seriously what the pay of
+the commander-in-chief ought to be, and decided that it ought to exceed
+that of any other person in the army. He then, in the sight of all,
+presented the king with four thousand and one dirhems, which Chosroes
+received and carried home. Thus two important principles were thought
+to be established--that no defect of equipment whatsoever should be
+overlooked in any officer, however high his rank, and that none should
+draw from the treasury a larger amount of pay than 4,000 dirhems (L112.
+of our money).
+
+The encouragement of agriculture was an essential element in the system
+of Zoroaster; and Chosroes, in devoting his attention to it, was at once
+performing a religious duty and increasing the resources of the state.
+It was his earnest desire to bring into cultivation all the soil which
+was capable of it; and with this object he not only issued edicts
+commanding the reclamation of waste lands, but advanced from the
+treasury the price of the necessary seed-corn, implements, and beasts
+to all poor persons willing to carry out his orders. Other poor persons,
+especially the infirm and those disabled by bodily defect, were relieved
+from his privy purse; mendicancy was forbidden, and idleness made an
+offence. The lands forfeited by the followers of Mazdak were distributed
+to necessitous cultivators. The water system was carefully attended to;
+river and torrent courses were cleared of obstructions and straightened;
+the superfluous water of the rainy season was stored, and meted out with
+a wise economy to those who tilled the soil, in the spring and summer.
+
+The prosperity of a country depends in part upon the laborious industry
+of the inhabitants, in part upon their numbers. Chosroes regarded Persia
+as insufficiently peopled, and made efforts to increase the population
+by encouraging and indeed compelling marriage. All marriageable females
+were required to provide themselves with husbands; if they neglected
+this duty, the government interfered, and united them to unmarried men
+of their own class. The pill was gilt to these latter by the advance of
+a sufficient dowry from the public treasury, and by the prospect that,
+if children resulted from the union, their education and establishment
+in life would be undertaken by the state. Another method of increasing
+the population, adopted by Chosroes to a certain extent, was the
+settlement within his own territories of the captives whom he carried
+off from foreign countries in the course of his military expeditions.
+The most notorious instance of this policy was the Greek settlement,
+known as Rumia (Rome), established by Chosroes after his capture of
+Antioch (A.D. 540), in the near vicinity of Ctesiphon.
+
+Oriental monarchs, in many respects civilized and enlightened, have
+often shown a narrow and unworthy jealousy of foreigners. Chosroes had
+a mind which soared above this petty prejudice. He encouraged the visits
+of all foreigners, excepting only the barbarous Turks, readily received
+them at his court, and carefully provided for their safety. Not only
+were the roads and bridges kept in the most perfect order throughout his
+territories, so as to facilitate locomotion, but on the frontiers and
+along the chief lines of route guard-houses were built and garrisons
+maintained for the express purpose of securing the safety of travellers.
+The result was that the court of Chosroes was visited by numbers of
+Europeans, who were hospitably treated, and invited, or even pressed, to
+prolong their visits.
+
+To the proofs of wisdom and enlightenment here enumerated Chosroes
+added another, which is more surprising than any of them. He studied
+philosophy, and was a patron of science and learning. Very early in his
+reign he gave a refuge at his court to a body of seven Greek sages whom
+a persecuting edict, issued by Justinian, had induced to quit their
+country and take up their abode on Persian soil. Among the refugees was
+the erudite Damascius, whose work De Principiis is well known, and has
+recently been found to exhibit an intimate acquaintance with some of the
+most obscure of the Oriental religions. Another of the exiles was the
+eclectic philosopher Simplicius, "the most acute and judicious of the
+interpreters of Aristotle." Chosroes gave the band of philosophers a
+hospitable reception, entertained them at his table, and was unwilling
+that they should leave his court. They found him acquainted with
+the writings of Aristotle and Plato, whose works he had caused to be
+translated into the Persian tongue. If he was not able to enter
+very deeply into the dialectical and metaphysical subtleties which
+characterize alike the Platonic Dialogues and the Aristotelian
+treatises, at any rate he was ready to discuss with them such questions
+as the origin of the world, its destructibility or indestructibility,
+and the derivation of all things from one First Cause or from more.
+Later in his reign, another Greek, a sophist named Uranius, acquired his
+especial favor, became his instructor in the learning of his country,
+and was presented by him with a large sum of money. Further, Chosroes
+maintained at his court, for the space of a year, the Greek physician,
+Tribunus, and offered him any reward that he pleased at his departure.
+He also instituted at Gondi-Sapor, in the vicinity of Susa, a sort
+of medical school, which became by degrees a university, wherein
+philosophy, rhetoric, and poetry were also studied. Nor was it Greek
+learning alone which attracted his notice and his patronage. Under his
+fostering care the history and jurisprudence of his native Persia
+were made special objects of study; the laws and maxims of the first
+Artaxerxes, the founder of the monarchy, were called forth from the
+obscurity which had rested on them for ages, were republished and
+declared to be authoritative; while at the same time the annals of the
+monarchy were collected and arranged, and a "Shah-nameh," or "Book of
+the Kings," composed, which it is probable formed the basis of the great
+work of Firdausi. Even the distant land of Hindustan was explored in
+the search after varied knowledge, and contributed to the learning and
+civilization of the time the fables of Bidpai and the game of chess.
+
+Though a fierce persecutor of the deluded followers of Mazdak, Chosroes
+admitted and practised, to some extent, the principles of toleration.
+On becoming king, he laid it down as a rule of his government that
+the actions of men alone, and not their thoughts, were subject to his
+authority. He was therefore bound not to persecute opinion; and we may
+suppose that in his proceedings against the Mazdakites he intended to
+punish their crimes rather than their tenets. Towards the Christians,
+who abounded in his empire, he certainly showed himself, upon the whole,
+mild and moderate. He married a Christian wife, and allowed her to
+retain her religion. When one of his sons became a Christian, the only
+punishment which he inflicted on him was to confine him to the palace.
+He augumented the number of the Christians in his dominions by the
+colonies which he brought in from abroad. He allowed to his Christian
+subjects the free exercise of their religion, permitted them to build
+churches, elect bishops, and conduct services at their pleasure, and
+even suffered them to bury their dead, though such pollution of the
+earth was accounted sacrilegious by the Zoroastrians. No unworthy
+compliances with the established cult were required of them.
+Proselytism, however, was not allowed; and all Christian sects were
+perhaps not viewed with equal favor. Chosroes, at any rate, is accused
+of persecuting the Catholics and the Monophysites, and compelling
+them to join the Nestorians, who formed the predominant sect in his
+dominions. Conformity, however, in things outward, is compatible with a
+wide diversity of opinion; and Chosroes, while he disliked differences
+of practice, seems certainly to have encouraged, at least in his earlier
+years, a freedom of discussion in religious matters which must have
+tended to shake the hereditary faith of his subjects. He also gave on
+one occasion a very remarkable indication of liberal and tolerant views.
+When he made his first peace with Rome, the article on which he insisted
+the most was one whereby the free profession of their known opinions and
+tenets in their own country was secured to the seven Grecian sages
+who had found at his court, in their hour of need, a refuge from
+persecution.
+
+In his domestic relations Chosroes was unfortunate. With his chief wife,
+indeed, the daughter of the great Khan of the Turks, he seems to have
+lived always on excellent terms; and it was his love for her which
+induced him to select the son whom she had borne him for his successor
+on the throne. But the wife who stood next in his favor displeased him
+by her persistent refusal to renounce the religion of Christ and adopt
+that of her husband in its stead; and the quarrel between them must have
+been aggravated by the conduct of their child, Nushizad, who, when he
+came to years of discretion, deliberately preferred the faith of
+his mother to that of his father and of the nation. With this choice
+Chosroes was naturally offended; but he restrained his anger within
+moderate limits, and was content to punish the young prince by
+forbidding him to quit the precincts of the palace. Unhappy results
+followed. Nushizad in his confinement heard a rumor that his father, who
+had started for the Syrian war, was struck with sickness, was not likely
+to recover, was dead. It seemed to him a golden opportunity, of which
+he would be foolish not to make the most. He accordingly quitted his
+prison, spread the report of his father's death, seized the state
+treasure, and scattered it with a liberal hand among the troops left in
+the capital, summoned the Christians throughout the empire to his aid,
+assumed the title and state of king, was acknowledged by the whole of
+the southern province, and thought himself strong enough to take the
+offensive and attempt the subjugation of Irak. Here, however, he was
+met by Phabrizus (Firuz?), one of his father's generals, who completely
+defeated his army in a pitched battle. According to one account,
+Nushizad fell in the thick of the fight, mortally wounded by a chance
+arrow. According to another, he was made prisoner, and carried to
+Chosroes, who, instead of punishing him with death, destroyed his hopes
+of reigning by inflicting on him a cruel disfigurement.
+
+The coins of Chosroes are very numerous, and offer one or two novel and
+curious types. The most remarkable have on the obverse the head of the
+king, presenting the full face, and surmounted by a mural crown with a
+low cap. The beard is close, and the hair arranged in masses on either
+side. There are two stars above the crown, and two crescents, one over
+either shoulder, with a star and crescent on the dress in front of each
+shoulder. The kings wears a necklace, from which hang three pendants. On
+the reverse these coins have a full-length figure of the king, standing
+to the front, with his two hands resting on the hilt of his straight
+sword, and its point placed between his feet. The crown worn resembles
+that on the obverse; and there is a star and crescent on either side of
+the head. The legend on the obverse is _Khusludi afzum_, "May Chosroes
+increase;" the reverse has, on the left _Khusludi_, with the
+regnal year; on the right, a longer legend which has not yet been
+satisfactorily interpreted. [PLATE XXII., Fig. 3.]
+
+The more ordinary type on the coins of Chosroes I. is one differing but
+little from those of his father, Kobad, and his son, Hormazd IV. The
+obverse has the king's head in profile, and the reverse the usual
+fire-altar and supporters. The distinguishing mark of these coins is,
+in addition to the legend, that they have three simple crescents in the
+margin of the obverse, instead of three crescents with stars. [PLATE
+XXII., Fig. 4.]
+
+A relic of Chosroes has come down to us, which is of great beauty. This
+is a cup composed of a number of small disks of colored glass, united
+by a gold setting, and having at the bottom a crystal, engraved with a
+figure of the monarch. As late as 1638 it was believed that the disks of
+glass were jacynths, garnets, and emeralds, while the stone which forms
+the base was thought to be a white sapphire. The original owner of so
+rare a drinking-vessel could (it was supposed) only be Solomon; and the
+figure at the bottom was accordingly supposed to represent the Jewish
+king. Archaeologists are now agreed that the engraving on the gem, which
+exactly resembles the figure upon the peculiar coins above described,
+represents Chosroes Anushirwan, and is of his age. There is no
+sufficient reason to doubt but that the cup itself is one out of which
+he was accustomed to drink.
+
+It is the great glory of Anushirwan that the title which his subjects
+gave him was "the Just." According to European, and especially to modern
+ideas, this praise would seem to have undeserved; and thus the great
+historian of the Byzantine period has not scrupled to declare that in
+his external policy Chosroes was actuated by mere ambition, and that "in
+his domestic administration he deserved the appellation of a tyrant."
+Undoubtedly the punishments which he inflicted were for the most part
+severe; but they were not capricious, nor uniform, nor without reference
+to the character of the offence. Plotting against his crown or
+his person, when the conspirators were of full age, treasonable
+correspondence with the enemy, violation of the sanctity of the harem,
+and the proselytism which was strictly forbidden by the laws, he
+punished with death. But, when the rebel was a mere youth, he was
+content to inflict a disfigurement; whence the offence was less, he
+could imprison, or confine to a particular spot, or simply banish
+the culprit from his presence. Instances on record of his clemency to
+offenders, and others which show that, when his own interests were at
+stake, he steadily refused to make use of his unlimited power for
+the oppression of individuals. It is unlikely that Anushirwan was
+distinguished as "the Just" without a reason; and we may safely conclude
+from his acknowledged title that his subjects found his rule more fair
+and equitable than that of any previous monarch.
+
+That the administration of Chosroes was wise, and that Persia prospered
+under his government, is generally admitted. His vigilance, his
+activity, his care for the poor, his efforts to prevent or check
+oppression, are notorious, and cannot be gainsaid. Nor can it be doubted
+that he was brave, hardy, temperate, prudent, and liberal. Whether
+he possessed the softer virtues, compassion, kindliness, a tender and
+loving heart, is perhaps open to question. He seems, however, to have
+been a good husband and a good father, not easily offended, and not
+over-severe whence offence was given him. His early severities against
+his brothers and their followers may be regarded as caused by the advice
+of others, and perhaps as justified by state policy. In his later life,
+when he was his own master, he was content to chastise rebellion more
+mildly.
+
+Intellectually, there is no reason to believe that Chosroes rose very
+high above the ordinary Oriental level. The Persians, and even many
+Greeks, in his own day, exalted him above measure, as capable of
+apprehending the most subtle arguments and the deepest problems of
+philosophy; but the estimate of Agathias is probably more just, and this
+reduces him to a standard about which there is nothing surprising. It
+is to his credit that although engaged in almost perpetual wars, and
+burdened moreover with the administration of a mighty empire, he had a
+mind large enough to entertain the consideration also of intellectual
+problems, and to enjoy and take part in their discussion; but it could
+scarcely be expected that, with his numerous other employments, he
+should really sound to their utmost depths the profundities of Greek
+thought, or understand the speculative difficulties which separated
+the various schools one from another. No doubt his knowledge was
+superficial, and there may have been ostentation in the parade which
+he made of it; but we must not deny him the praise of a quick, active
+intellect, and a width of view rarely found in an Oriental.
+
+It was not, however, in the field of speculative thought, but in that of
+practical effort, that Chosroes chiefly distinguished himself and gained
+his choicest laurels. The excellence of his domestic administration has
+been already noticed. But, great as he was in peace, he was greater in
+war. Engaged for nearly fifty years in almost uninterrupted contests,
+he triumphed in every quarter, and scarcely experienced a reverse.
+Victorious over the Romans, the Abyssinians, the Ephthalites, and the
+Turks, he extended the limits of his empire on all sides, pacified
+the discontented Armenia, crushed internal revolt, frustrated the most
+threatening combinations, and established Persia in a position which
+she had scarcely occupied since the days of Darius Hystaspis. Personally
+engaged in above a score of fights, by the admission of his enemies he
+was never defeated but once; and there are circumstances which make it
+probable that this single check was of slight importance. The one real
+failure that can be laid to his charge was in another quarter, and
+involved no military, but only a political blunder. In recoiling from
+the difficulties of the Lazic war, Chosroes had not to deplore
+any disgrace to his arms, but simply to acknowledge that he had
+misunderstood the temper of the Lazic people. In depreciation of his
+military talents it may be said that he was never opposed to any great
+general. With Belisarius it would certainly seem that he never actually
+crossed swords; but Justinian and Maurice (afterwards emperor), to whom
+he was opposed in his later years, were no contemptible antagonists. It
+may further be remarked that the collapse of Persia in her struggle
+with Rome as soon as Chosroes was in his grave is a tolerably decisive
+indication that she owed her long career of victory under his guidance
+to his possession of uncommon military ability.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+_Accession of Hormisdas IV. His good Government in the Earlier Portion
+of his Reign. Invasion of Persia by the Romans under Maurice. Defeats
+of Adarman and Tamchosro. Campaign of Johannes. Campaigns of Philippicus
+and Heraclius. Tyranny of Hormisdas. He is attacked by the Arabs,
+Khazars, and Turks. Bahram defeats the Turks. His Attack on Lazica. He
+suffers a Defeat. Disgrace of Bahram. Dethronement of Hormisdas IV. and
+Elevation of Chosroes II. Character of Hormisdas. Coins of Hormisdas._
+
+
+At the death of Chosroes the crown was assumed without dispute or
+difficulty by his son, Hormazd, who is known to the Greek and Latin
+writers as Hormisdas IV. Hormazd was the eldest, or perhaps the only,
+son borne to Chosroes by the Turkish princess, Fakim, who, from the time
+of her marriage, had held the place of sultana, or principal wife. His
+illustrious descent on both sides, added to the express appointment of
+his father, caused him to be universally accepted as king; and we do
+not hear that even his half-brothers, several of whom were older than
+himself, put forward any claims in opposition to his, or caused him any
+anxiety or trouble. He commenced his reign amid the universal plaudits
+and acclamations of his subjects, whom he delighted by declaring that he
+would follow in all things the steps of his father, whose wisdom so
+much exceeded his own, would pursue his policy, maintain his officers in
+power, and endeavor in all respects to govern as he had governed.
+When the mobeds attempted to persuade him to confine his favor to
+Zoroastrians and persecute such of his subjects as were Jews or
+Christians he rejected their advice with the remark that, as in an
+extensive territory there were sure to be varieties of soil, so it was
+fitting that a great empire should embrace men of various opinions and
+manners. In his progresses from one part of his empire to another he
+allowed of no injury being done to the lands or gardens along the route,
+and punished severely all who infringed his orders. According to some,
+his good dispositions lasted only during the time that he enjoyed the
+counsel and support of Abu-zurd-mihir, one of the best advisers of his
+father; but when this venerated sage was compelled by the infirmities
+of age to quit his court he fell under other influences, and soon
+degenerated into the cruel tyrant which, according to all the
+authorities, he showed himself in his later years.
+
+Meanwhile, however, he was engaged in important wars, particularly
+with the Roman emperors Tiberius and Maurice, who, now that the great
+Chosroes was dead, pressed upon Persia with augmented force, in
+the confident hope of recovering their lost laurels. On the first
+intelligence of the great king's death, Tiberius had endeavored to
+negotiate a peace with his successor, and had offered to relinquish all
+claim on Armenia, and to exchange Arzanene with its strong fortress,
+Aphumon, for Daras; but Hormisdas had absolutely rejected his proposals,
+declared that he would surrender nothing, and declined to make peace on
+any other terms than the resumption by Rome of her old system of paying
+an annual subsidy. The war consequently continued; and Maurice, who
+still held the command, proceeded, in the summer of A.D. 579, to take
+the offensive and invade the Persian territory. He sent a force
+across the Tigris under Romanus, Theodoric, and Martin, which ravaged
+Kurdistan, and perhaps penetrated into Media, nowhere encountering any
+large body of the enemy, but carrying all before them and destroying the
+harvest at their pleasure. In the next year, A.D. 580, he formed a more
+ambitious project. Having gained over, as he thought, Alamundarus, the
+leader of the Saracens dependent on Persia, and collected a fleet to
+carry his stores, he marched from Gircesium down the course of the
+Euphrates, intending to carry the war into Southern Mesopotamia, and
+perhaps hoping to capture Ctesiphon. He expected to take the Persians
+unawares, and may not unnaturally have looked to gain an important
+success; but, unhappily for his plans, Alamundarus proved treacherous.
+The Persian king was informed of his enemy's march, and steps were at
+once taken to render it abortive. Adarman was sent, at the head of a
+large army, into Roman Mesopotamia, where he threatened the important
+city of Callinicus in Maurice's rear. That general dared advance no
+further. On the contrary, he felt constrained to fall back, to give
+up his scheme, burn his fleet, and return hastily within the Roman
+frontier. On his arrival, he engaged Adarman near the city which he was
+attacking, defeated him, and drove him back into Persia.
+
+In the ensuing spring, after another vain attempt at negotiation, the
+offensive was taken by the Persians, who, early in A.D. 581, crossed the
+frontier under Tam-chosro, and attacked the Roman city of Constantia,
+or Constantina. Maurice hastened to its relief; and a great battle was
+fought in the immediate vicinity of the city, wherein the Persians
+were completely defeated, and their commander lost his life. Further
+advantages might have been gained; but the prospect of the succession
+drew Maurice to Constantinople, where Tiberius, stricken with a mortal
+disease, received him with open arms, gave his daughter and the state
+into his care, and, dying soon after, left him the legacy of the empire,
+which he administered with success for above twenty years.
+
+On quitting the East, Maurice devolved his command upon an officer who
+bore the very common name of Johannes, but was distinguished further
+by the epithet of Mustacon, on account of his abundant moustache.
+This seems to have been a bad appointment. Mustacon was unequal to the
+position. He gave the Persians battle at the conjunction of the Nymphius
+with the Tigris, but was defeated with considerable loss, partly through
+the misconduct of one of his captains. He then laid siege to Arbas, a
+strong fort on the Persian side of the Nymphius, while the main body
+of the Persians were attacking Aphumon in the neighboring district of
+Arzanene. The garrison of Arbas made signals of distress, which speedily
+brought the Persian army to their aid; a second battle was fought at
+Arbas, and Mustacon was again defeated, and forced to retire across
+the Nymphius into Roman territory. His incapacity was now rendered so
+clearly evident that Maurice recalled him, and gave the command of the
+army of the East to a new general, Philippicus, his brother-in-law.
+
+The first and second campaigns of Philippicus, in the years A.D. 584
+and 585, were of the most commonplace character. He avoided any general
+engagement, and contended himself with plundering inroads into the
+Persian territory on either side of the Upper Tigris, occasionally
+suffering considerably from want of water and provisions. The Persians
+on their part undertook no operations of importance until late in A.D.
+585, when Philippicus had fallen sick. They then made attempts upon
+Monocartum and Martyropolis, which were unsuccessful, resulting only in
+the burning of a church and a monastery near the latter town. Neither
+side seemed capable of making any serious impression upon the other; and
+early the next year negotiations were resumed, which, however, resulted
+in nothing.
+
+In his third campaign Philippicus adopted a bolder line of proceeding.
+Commencing by an invasion of Eastern Mesopotamia, he met and defeated
+the Persians in a great battle near Solachon, having first roused the
+enthusiasm of his troops by carrying along their ranks a miraculous
+picture of our Lord, which no human hand had painted. Hanging on the
+rear of the fugitives, he pursued them to Daras, which declined to
+receive within its walls an army that had so disgraced itself. The
+Persian commander withdrew his troops further inland; and Philippicus,
+believing that he had now no enemy to fear, proceeded to invade
+Arzanene, to besiege the stronghold of Chlomaron, and at the same time
+to throw forward troops into the more eastern parts of the country. He
+expected them to be unopposed; but the Persian general, having rallied
+his force and augmented it by fresh recruits, had returned towards
+the frontier, and, hearing of the danger of Arzanene, had flown to its
+defence. Philippicus was taken by surprise, compelled to raise the siege
+of Chlomaron, and to fall back in disorder. The Persians pressed on his
+retreat, crossed the Nymphius after him, and did not desist from the
+pursuit until the imperial general threw himself with his shattered
+army into the strong fortress of Amida. Disgusted and discredited by his
+ill-success, Philippicus gave over the active prosecution of the war
+to Heraclius, and, remaining at head-quarters, contented himself with a
+general supervision.
+
+Heraclius, on receiving his appointment, is said to have at once assumed
+the offensive, and to have led an army, consisting chiefly or entirely
+of infantry, into Persian territory, which devastated the country on
+both sides of the Tigris, and rejoined Philippicus, without having
+suffered any disaster, before the winter. Philippicus was encouraged
+by the success of his lieutenant to continue him in command for another
+year; but, through prudence or jealousy, he was induced to intrust a
+portion only of the troops to his care, while he assigned to others the
+supreme authority over no less than one third of the Roman army. The
+result was, as might have been expected, inglorious for Rome. During
+A.D. 587 the two divisions acted separately in different quarters; and,
+at the end of the year, neither could boast of any greater success than
+the reduction, in each case, of a single fortress. Philippicus, however,
+seems to have been satisfied; and at the approach of winter he withdrew
+from the East altogether, leaving Heraclius as his representative, and
+returned to Constantinople.
+
+During the earlier portion of the year A.D. 588 the mutinous temper
+of the Roman army rendered it impossible that any military operations
+should be undertaken. Encouraged by the disorganization of their
+enemies, the Persians crossed the frontier, and threatened Constantina,
+which was however saved by Germanus. Later in the year, the mutinous
+spirit having been quelled, a counter-expedition was made by the Romans
+into Arzanene. Here the Persian general, Maruzas, met them, and drove
+them from the province; but, following up his success too ardently, he
+received a complete defeat near Martyropolis, and lost his life in the
+battle. His head was cut off by the civilized conquerors, and sent as a
+trophy to Maurice.
+
+The campaign of A.D. 589 was opened by a brilliant stroke on the part
+of the Persians, who, through the treachery of a certain Sittas, a petty
+officer in the Roman army, made themselves masters of Martyropolis. It
+was in vain that Philippicus twice besieged the place; he was unable to
+make any impression upon it, and after a time desisted from the attempt.
+On the second occasion the garrison was strongly reinforced by the
+Persians under Mebodos and Aphraates, who, after defeating Philippicus
+in a pitched battle, threw a large body of troops into the town.
+Philippicus was upon this deprived of his office, and replaced by
+Comentiolus, with Heraclius as second in command. The new leaders,
+instead of engaging in the tedious work of a siege, determined on
+re-establishing the Roman prestige by a bold counter-attack. They
+invaded the Persian territory in force, ravaged the country about
+Nisibis, and brought Aphraates to a pitched battle at Sisarbanon,
+near that city. Victory seemed at first to incline to the Persians;
+Comentiolus was defeated and fled; but Horaclius restored the battle,
+and ended by defeating the whole Persian army, and driving it from the
+field, with the loss of its commander, who was slain in the thick of the
+fight. The next day the Persian camp was taken, and a rich booty fell
+into the hands of the conquerors, besides a number of standards. The
+remnant of the defeated army found a refuge within the walls of Nisibis.
+Later in the year Comentiolus recovered to some extent his tarnished
+laurels by the siege and capture of Arbas, whose strong situation in the
+immediate vicinity of Martyropolis rendered the position of the Persian
+garrison in that city insecure, if not absolutely untenable.
+
+Such was the condition of affairs in the western provinces of the
+Persian Empire, when a sudden danger arose in the east, which had
+strange and most important consequences. According to the Oriental
+writers, Hormisdas had from a just monarch gradually become a tyrant;
+under the plea of protecting the poor had grievously oppressed the
+rich; through jealousy or fear had put to death no fewer than thirteen
+thousand of the upper classes, and had thus completely alienated all
+the more powerful part of the nation. Aware of his unpopularity, the
+surrounding tribes and peoples commenced a series of aggressions,
+plundered the frontier provinces, defeated the detachments sent against
+them under commanders who were disaffected, and everywhere brought the
+empire into the greatest danger. The Arabs crossed the Euphrates and
+spread themselves over Mesopotamia; the Khazars invaded Armenia and
+Azerbijan; rumor said that the Greek emperor had taken the field and was
+advancing on the side of Syria, at the head of 80,000 men; above all, it
+was quite certain that the Great Khan of the Turks had put his hordes
+in motion, had passed the Oxus with a countless host, occupied Balkh and
+Herat, and was threatening to penetrate into the very heart of Persia.
+The perilous character of the crisis is perhaps exaggerated; but there
+can be little doubt that the advance of the Turks constituted a real
+danger. Hormisdas, however, did not even now quit the capital, or
+adventure his own person. He selected from among his generals a certain
+Varahran or Bahram, a leader of great courage and experience, who had
+distinguished himself in the wars of Anushirwan, and, placing all the
+resources of the empire at his disposal, assigned to him the entire
+conduct of the Turkish struggle. Bahram is said to have contented
+himself with a small force of picked men, veterans between forty and
+fifty years of age, to have marched with them upon Balkh, contended
+with the Great Khan in several partial engagements, and at last entirely
+defeated him in a great battle, wherein the Khan lost his life. This
+victory was soon followed by another over the Khan's son, who was made
+prisoner and sent to Hormisdas. An enormous booty was at the same time
+despatched to the court; and Bahram himself was about to return, when he
+received his master's orders to carry his arms into another quarter.
+
+It is supposed, by some that, while the Turkish hordes were menacing
+Persia upon the north-east, a Roman army, intended to act in concert
+with them, was sent by Maurice into Albania, which proceeded to threaten
+the common enemy in the north-west. But the Byzantine writers know of no
+alliance at this time between the Romans and Turks; nor do they tell
+of any offensive movement undertaken by Rome in aid of the Turkish
+invasion, or even simultaneously with it. According to them, the war
+in this quarter, which certainly broke out in A.D. 589, was provoked by
+Hormisdas himself, who, immediately after his Turkish victories, sent
+Bahram with an army to invade Colchis and Suania, or in other words to
+resume the Lazic war, from which Anushirwan had desisted twenty-seven
+years previously. Bahram found the province unguarded, and was able to
+ravage it at his will; but a Roman force soon gathered to its defence,
+and after some manoeuvres a pitched battle was fought on the Araxes, in
+which the Persian general suffered a defeat. The military results of
+the check were insignificant; but it led to an internal revolution.
+Hormisdas had grown jealous of his too successful lieutenant, and was
+glad of an opportunity to insult him. No sooner did he hear of Bahram's
+defeat than he sent off a messenger to the camp upon the Araxes, who
+deprived the general of his command, and presented to him, on the part
+of his master, a distaff, some cotton, and a complete set of women's
+garments. Stung to madness by the undeserved insult, Bahram retorted
+with a letter, wherein he addressed Hormisdas, not as the son, but as
+the daughter of Chosroes. Shortly afterwards, upon the arrival of a
+second messenger from the court, with orders to bring the recalcitrant
+commander home in chains, Bahram openly revolted, caused the envoy to
+be trampled upon by an elephant, and either by simply putting before the
+soldiers his services and his wrongs, or by misrepresenting to them the
+intentions of Hormisdas towards themselves, induced his whole army with
+one accord to embrace his cause.
+
+The news of the great general's revolt was received with acclamations
+by the provinces. The army of Mesopotamia, collected at Nisibis, made
+common cause with that of Albania; and the united force, advancing on
+the capital by way of Assyria, took up a position upon the Upper Zab
+river. Hormisdas sent a general, Pherochanes, to meet and engage the
+rebels; but the emissaries of Bahram seduced his troops from their
+allegiance; Pherochanes was murdered; and the insurgent army, augmented
+by the force sent to oppose it, drew daily nearer to Ctesiphon.
+Meanwhile Hormisdas, distracted between hate and fear, suspecting every
+one, trusting no one, confined himself within the walls of the capital,
+where he continued to exercise the severities which had lost him the
+affections of his subjects. According to some, he suspected his son,
+Chosroes, of collusion with the enemy, and drove him into banishment,
+imprisoning at the same time his own brothers in-law, Bindoes and
+Bostam, who would be likely, he thought, to give their support to their
+nephew. These violent measures precipitated the evils which he feared;
+a general revolt broke out in the palace; Bostam and Bindoes, released
+from prison, put themselves at the head of the malcontents, and, rushing
+into the presence-chamber, dragged the tyrant from his throne, stripped
+him of the diadem, and committed him to the dungeon from which they had
+themselves escaped. The Byzantine historians believed that, after this,
+Hormisdas was permitted to plead his cause before an assembly of Persian
+nobles, to glorify his own reign, vituperate his eldest son, Chosroes,
+and express his willingness to abdicate in favor of another son, who
+had never offended him. They supposed that this ill-judged oration had
+sealed the fate of the youth recommended and of his mother, who were cut
+to pieces before the fallen monarch's eyes, while at the same time the
+rage of the assembly was vented in part upon Hormisdas himself, who was
+blinded, to make his restoration impossible. But a judicious critic will
+doubt the likelihood of rebels, committed as were Bindoes and Bostam,
+consenting to allow such an appeal as is described by Theophylact; and
+a perusal of the speeches assigned to the occasion will certainly not
+diminish his scepticism. The probability would seem to be that Hormisdas
+was blinded as soon as committed to prison, and that shortly afterwards
+he suffered the general fate of deposed sovereigns, being assassinated
+in his place of confinement.
+
+The deposition of Hormisdas was followed almost immediately by the
+proclamation of his eldest son, Chosroes, the prince known in history
+as "Eberwiz" or "Parviz," the last great Persian monarch. The rebels at
+Ctesiphon had perhaps acted from first to last with his cognizance: at
+any rate, they calculated on his pardoning proceedings which had given
+him actual possession of a throne whereto, without their aid, he might
+never have succeeded. They accordingly declared him king of Persia
+without binding him by conditions, and without negotiating with Bahram,
+who was still in arms and at no great distance.
+
+Before passing to the consideration of the eventful reign with which we
+shall now have to occupy ourselves, a glance at the personal character
+of the deceased monarch will perhaps be expected by the reader. Hormuzd
+is pronounced by the concurrent voice of the Greeks and the Orientals
+one of the worst princes that ever ruled over Persia. The fair promise
+of his early years was quickly clouded over; and during the greater
+portion of his reign he was a jealous and capricious tyrant, influenced
+by unworthy favorites, and stimulated to ever-increasing severities by
+his fears. Eminence of whatsoever kind roused his suspicions; and among
+his victims were included, besides the noble and the great, a large
+number of philosophers and men of science. His treatment of Bahram was
+at once a folly and a crime--an act of black ingratitude, and a rash
+step, whereof he had not counted the consequences. To his other vices
+he added those of indolence and effeminacy. From the time that he became
+king nothing could drag him from the soft life of the palace; in no
+single instance did he take the field, either against his country's
+enemies or his own. Miserable as was his end, we can scarcely deem him
+worthy of our pity, since there never lived a man whose misfortunes were
+more truly brought on him by his own conduct.
+
+The coins of Hormisdas IV. are in no respect remarkable. The head seems
+modelled on that of Chosroes, his father, but is younger. The field of
+the coin within the border is somewhat unduly crowded with stars and
+crescents. Stars and crescents also occur outside the border, replacing
+the simple crescents of Chosroes, and reproducing the combined stars and
+crescents of Zamasp. The legend on the obverse is _Auhramazdi afzud_,
+or sometimes _Auhramazi afzun_; on the reverse are commonly found,
+besides the usual fire-altar and supporters, a regnal year and a
+mint-mark. The regnal years range from one to thirteen; the number of
+the mint-marks is about thirty. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. 1.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXIII.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+_Accession of Chosroes II. (Eberwiz). Bahram rejects his Terms. Contest
+between Chosroes and Bahram. Flight of Chosroes. Short Reign of Bahram
+(Varahran VI). Campaign of A.D. 591. Recovery of the Throne by Chosroes.
+Coins of Bahram._
+
+
+The position of Chosroes II. on his accession was one of great
+difficulty. Whether actually guilty of parricide or not, he was at any
+rate suspected by the greater part of his subjects of complicity in his
+father's murder. A rebel, who was the greatest Persian general of
+the time, at the head of a veteran army, stood arrayed against his
+authority. He had no established character to fall back upon, no merits
+to plead, nothing in fact to urge on his behalf but that he was the
+eldest son of his father, the legitimate representative of the ancient
+line of the Sassanidae. A revolution had placed him on the throne in a
+hasty and irregular manner; nor is it clear that he had ventured on the
+usual formality of asking the consent of the general assembly of the
+nobles to his coronation. Thus perils surrounded him on every side; but
+the most pressing danger of all, that which required to be immediately
+met and confronted, was the threatening attitude of Bahram, who had
+advanced from Adiabene to Holwan, and occupied a strong position not
+a hundred and fifty miles from the capital. Unless Bahram could be
+conciliated or defeated, the young king could not hope to maintain
+himself in power, or feel that he had any firm grasp of the sceptre.
+
+Under these circumstances he took the resolution to try first the method
+of conciliation. There seemed to be a fair opening for such a course. It
+was not he, but his father, who had given the offence which drove
+Bahram into rebellion, and almost forced him to vindicate his manhood by
+challenging his detractor to a trial of strength. Bahram could have
+no personal ground of quarrel with him. Indeed that general had at the
+first, if we may believe the Oriental writers, proclaimed Chosroes as
+king, and given out that he took up arms in order to place him upon
+the throne. It was thought, moreover, that the rebel might feel himself
+sufficiently avenged by the death of his enemy, and might be favorably
+disposed towards those who had first blinded Hormisdas and then
+despatched him by the bowstring. Chosroes therefore composed a letter in
+which he invited Bahram to his court, and offered him the second place
+in the kingdom, if he would come in and make his submission. The message
+was accompanied by rich presents, and by an offer that if the terms
+proposed wera accepted they should be confirmed by oath.
+
+The reply of Bahram was as follows: "Bahram, friend of the gods,
+conqueror, illustrious, enemy of tyrants, satrap of satraps, general of
+the Persian host, wise, apt for command, god-fearing, without reproach,
+noble, fortunate, successful, venerable, thrifty, provident, gentle,
+humane, to Chosroes the son of Hormisdas (sends greeting). I have
+received the letter which you wrote with such little wisdom, but have
+rejected the presents which you sent with such excessive boldness. It
+had been better that you should have abstained from sending either, more
+especially considering the irregularity of your appointment, and the
+fact that the noble and respectable took no part in the vote, which
+was carried by the disorderly and low-born. If then it is your wish to
+escape your father's fate, strip off the diadem which you have assumed
+and deposit it in some holy place, quit the palace, and restore to their
+prisons the criminals whom you have set at liberty, and whom you had no
+right to release until they had undergone trial for their crimes. When
+you have done all this, come hither, and I will give you the government
+of a province. Be well advised, and so farewell. Else, be sure you will
+perish like your father." So insolent a missive might well have provoked
+the young prince to some hasty act or some unworthy show of temper. It
+is to the credit of Chosroes that he restrained himself, and even made
+another attempt to terminate the quarrel by a reconciliation. While
+striving to outdo Bahram in the grandeur of his titles, he still
+addressed him as his friend. He complimented him on his courage,
+and felicitated him on his excellent health. "There were certain
+expressions," he said, "in the letter that he had received, which he
+was sure did not speak his friend's real feelings. The amanuensis had
+evidently drunk more wine than he ought, and, being half asleep when he
+wrote, had put down things that were foolish and indeed monstrous. But
+he was not disturbed by them. He must decline, however, to send back
+to their prisons those whom he had released, since favors granted by
+royalty could not with propriety be withdrawn; and he must protest that
+in the ceremony of his coronation all due formalities had been observed.
+As for stripping himself of his diadem, he was so far from contemplating
+it that he looked forward rather to extending his dominion over new
+worlds. As Bahram had invited him, he would certainly pay him a visit;
+but he would be obliged to come as a king, and if his persuasions did
+not produce submission he would have to compel it by force of arms. He
+hoped that Bahram would be wise in time, and would consent to be his
+friend and helper."
+
+This second overture produced no reply; and it became tolerably evident
+that the quarrel could only be decided by the arbitrament of battle.
+Chosroes accordingly put himself at the head of such troops as he could
+collect, and marched against his antagonist, whom he found encamped
+on the Holwan River. The place was favorable for an engagement; but
+Chosroes had no confidence in his soldiers. He sought a personal
+interview with Bahram, and renewed his offers of pardon and favor; but
+the conference only led to mutual recriminations, and at its close
+both sides appealed to arms. During six days the two armies merely
+skirmished, since Chosroes bent all his efforts towards avoiding a
+general engagement; but on the seventh day Bahram surprised him by an
+attack after night had fallen,a threw his troops into confusion, and
+then, by a skilful appeal to their feelings, induced them to desert
+their leader and come over to his side. Chosroes was forced to fly. He
+fell back on Ctesiphon; but despairing of making a successful defence,
+with the few troops that remained faithful to him, against the
+overwhelming force which Bahram had at his disposal, he resolved to
+evacuate the capital, to quit Persia, and to throw himself on the
+generosity of some one of his neighbors. It is said that his choice
+was long undetermined between the Turks, the Arabs, the Khazars of
+the Caucasian region, and the Romans. According to some writers, after
+leaving Ctesiphon, with his wives and children, his two uncles, and an
+escort of thirty men, he laid his reins on his horse's neck, and left it
+to the instinct of the animal to determine in what direction he should
+flee. The sagacious beast took the way to the Euphrates; and Chosroes,
+finding himself on its banks, crossed the river, and, following up its
+course, reached with much difficulty the well-known Roman station of
+Circesium. He was not unmolested in his retreat. Bahram no sooner heard
+of his flight than he sent off a body of 4000 horse, with orders to
+pursue and capture the fugitive. They would have succeeded, had not
+Bindoes devoted himself on behalf of his nephew, and, by tricking the
+officer in command, enabled Chosroes to place such a distance between
+himself and his pursuers that the chase had to be given up, and the
+detachment to return, with no more valuable capture than Bindoes, to
+Ctesiphon.
+
+Chosroes was received with all honor by Probus, the governor of
+Circesium, who the next day communicated intelligence of what had
+happened to Comentiolus, Prefect of the East, then resident at
+Hierapolis. At the same time he sent to Comentiolus a letter which
+Chosroes had addressed to Maurice, imploring his aid against his
+enemies. Comentiolus approved what had been done, despatched a courier
+to bear the royal missive to Constantinople, and shortly afterwards, by
+the direction of the court, invited the illustrious refugee to remove
+to Hierapolis, and there take up his abode, till his cause should be
+determined by the emperor. Meanwhile, at Constantinople, after the
+letter of Chosroes had been read, a serious debate arose as to what was
+fittest to be done. While some urged with much show of reason that
+it was for the interest of the empire that the civil war should be
+prolonged, that Persia should be allowed to waste her strength and
+exhaust her resources in the contest, at the end of which it would be
+easy to conquer her, there were others whose views were less selfish
+or more far-sighted. The prospect of uniting the East and West into a
+single monarchy, which had been brought to the test of experiment by
+Alexander and had failed, did not present itself in a very tempting
+light to these minds. They doubted the ability of the declining empire
+to sway at once the sceptre of Europe and of Asia. They feared that if
+the appeal of Chosroes were rejected, the East would simply fall into
+anarchy, and the way would perhaps be prepared for some new power
+to rise up, more formidable than the kingdom of the Sassanidae.
+The inclination of Maurice, who liked to think himself magnanimous,
+coincided with the views of these persons: their counsels were accepted;
+and the reply was made to Chosroes that the Roman emperor accepted him
+as his guest and son, undertook his quarrel, and would aid him with all
+the forces of the empire to recover his throne. At the same time Maurice
+sent him some magnificent presents, and releasing the Persian prisoners
+in confinement at Constantinople, bade them accompany the envoys of
+Chosroes and resume the service of their master. Soon afterwards more
+substantial tokens of the Imperial friendship made their appearance. An
+army of 70,000 men arrived under Narses; and a subsidy was advanced by
+the Imperial treasury, amounting (according to one writer) to about two
+millions sterling.
+
+But this valuable support to his cause was no free gift of a generous
+friend; on the contrary, it had to be purchased by great sacrifices.
+Chosroes had perhaps at first hoped that aid would be given him
+gratuitously, and had even regarded the cession of a single city as one
+that he might avoid making. But he learnt by degrees that nothing was
+to be got from Rome without paying for it; and it was only by
+ceding Persarmenia and Eastern Mesopotamia, with its strong towns of
+Martyropolis and Daras, that he obtained the men and money that were
+requisite.
+
+Meanwhile Bahram, having occupied Ctesiphon, had proclaimed himself
+king, and sent out messengers on all sides to acquaint the provinces
+with the change of rulers. The news was received without enthusiasm, but
+with a general acquiescence; and, had Maurice rejected the application
+of Chosroes, it is probable that the usurper might have enjoyed a long
+and quiet reign. As soon, however, as it came to be known that the Greek
+emperor had espoused, the cause of his rival, Bahram found himself
+in difficulties: conspiracy arose in his own court, and had to be
+suppressed by executions; murmurs were heard in some of the more distant
+provinces; Armenia openly revolted and declared for Chosroes; and it
+soon appeared that in places the fidelity of the Persian troops was
+doubtful. This was especially the case in Mesopotamia, which would
+have to bear the brunt of the attack when the Romans advanced. Bahram
+therefore thought it necessary, though it was now the depth of winter,
+to strengthen his hold on the wavering province, and sent out two
+detachments, under commanders upon whom he could rely, to occupy
+respectively Anatho and Nisibis, the two strongholds of greatest
+importance in the suspected region. Miraduris succeeded in entering and
+occupying Anatho. Zadesprates was less fortunate; before he reached the
+neighborhood of Nisibis, the garrison which held that place had deserted
+the cause of the usurper and given in its adhesion to Chosroes; and,
+when he approached to reconnoitre, he was made the victim of a stratagem
+and killed by an officer named Rosas. Miraduris did not long survive
+him; the troops which he had introduced into Anatho caught the contagion
+of revolt, rose up against him, slew him, and sent his head to Chosroes.
+
+The spring was now approaching, and the time for military operations
+on a grand scale drew near. Chosroes, besides his supporters in
+Mesopotamia, Roman and Persian, had a second army in Azerbijan, raised
+by his uncles Bindoes and Bostam, which was strengthened by an Armenian
+contingent. The plan of campaign involved the co-operation of these two
+forces. With this object Chosroes proceeded early in the spring, from
+Hierapolis to Constantina, from Constantina to Daras, and thence by way
+of Ammodion to the Tigris, across which he sent a detachment, probably
+in the neighborhood of Mosul. This force fell in with Bryzacius, who
+commanded in these parts for Bahram, and surprising him in the first
+watch of the night, defeated his army and took Bryzacius himself
+prisoner. The sequel, which Theophylact appears to relate from the
+information of an eye-witness, furnishes a remarkable evidence of the
+barbarity of the times. Those who captured Bryzacius cut off his nose
+and his ears, and in this condition sent him to Chosroes. The Persian
+prince was overjoyed at the success, which no doubt he accepted as a
+good omen; he at once led his whole army across the river, and having
+encamped for the night at a place called Dinabadon, entertained the
+chief Persian and Roman nobles at a banquet. When the festivity was at
+its height, the unfortunate prisoner was brought in loaded with fetters,
+and was made sport of by the guests for a time, after which, at a
+signal from the king, the guards plunged their swords into his body, and
+despatched him in the sight of the feasters. Having amused his guests
+with this delectable interlude, the amiable monarch concluded the whole
+by anointing them with perfumed ointment, crowning them with flowers,
+and bidding them drink to the success of the war. "The guests," says
+Theophylact, "returned, to their tents, delighted with the completeness
+of their entertainment, and told their friends how handsomely they
+had been treated, but the crown of all (they said) was the episode of
+Bryzacius."
+
+Chosroes next day advanced across the Greater Zab, and, after marching
+four days, reached Alexandrian a position probably not far from Arbela,
+after which, in two days more, he arrived at Chnaethas, which was a
+district upon the Zab Asfal, or Lesser Zab River. Here he found himself
+in the immediate vicinity of Bahram, who had taken up his position on
+the Lesser Zab, with the intention probably of blocking the route up its
+valley, by which he expected that the Armenian army would endeavor to
+effect a junction with the army of Chosroes. Here the two forces watched
+each other for some days, and various manoeuvres were executed, which it
+is impossible to follow, since Theophylact, our only authority, is not
+a good military historian. The result, however, is certain. Bahram was
+out-manoeuvred by Chosroes and his Roman allies; the fords of the Zab
+were seized; and after five days of marching and counter-marching,
+the longed-for junction took place. Chosroes had the satisfaction
+of embracing his uncles Bindoes and Bostam, and of securing such a
+reinforcement as gave him a great superiority in numbers over his
+antagonist.
+
+About the same time he received intelligence of another most important
+success. Before quitting Daras, he had despatched Mebodes, at the head
+of a small body of Romans, to create a diversion on the Mesopotomian
+side of the Tigris by a demonstration from Singara against Seleucia
+and Ctesiphon. He can hardly have expected to do more than distract
+his enemy and perhaps make him divide his forces. Bahram, however, was
+either indifferent as to the fate of the capital, or determined not to
+weaken the small army, which was all that he could muster, and on which
+his whole dependence was placed. He left Seleucia and Ctesiphon to their
+fate. Mebodes and his small force marched southward without meeting
+an enemy, obtained possession of Seleucia without a blow after the
+withdrawal of the garrison, received the unconditional surrender of
+Ctesiphon, made themselves masters of the royal palace and treasures,
+proclaimed Chosroes king, and sent to him in his camp the most precious
+emblems of the Persian sovereignty. Thus, before engaging with his
+antagonist, Chosroes recovered his capital and found his authority once
+more recognized in the seat of government.
+
+The great contest had, however, to be decided, not by the loss and gain
+of cities, nor by the fickle mood of a populace, but by trial of arms in
+the open field. Bahram was not of a temper to surrender his sovereignty
+unless compelled by defeat. He was one of the greatest generals of the
+age, and, though compelled to fight under every disadvantage, greatly
+outnumbered by the enemy, and with troops that were to a large extent
+disaffected, he was bent on resisting to the utmost, and doing his best
+to maintain his own rights. He seems to have fought two pitched battles
+with the combined Romans and Persians, and not to have succumbed until
+treachery and desertion disheartened him and ruined his cause. The first
+battle was in the plain country of Adiabene, at the foot of the Zagros
+range. Here the opposing armies were drawn out in the open field, each
+divided into a centre and two wings. In the army of Chosroes the Romans
+were in the middle, on the right the Persians, and the Armenians on the
+left. Narses, together with Chosroes, held the central position: Bahram
+was directly opposed to them. When the conflict began the Romans charged
+with such fierceness that Bahram's centre at once gave way; he was
+obliged to retreat to the foot of the hills, and take up a position on
+their slope. Here the Romans refused to attack him; and Chosroes very
+imprudently ordered the Persians who fought on his side to advance up
+the ascent. They were repulsed, and thrown into complete confusion; and
+the battle would infallibly have been lost, had not Narses come to their
+aid, and with his steady and solid battalions protected their retreat
+and restored the fight. Yet the day terminated with a feeling on both
+sides that Bahram had on the whole had the advantage in the engagement;
+the king _de facto_ congratulated himself; the king _de jure_ had to
+bear the insulting pity of his allies, and the reproaches of his own
+countrymen for occasioning them such a disaster.
+
+But though Bahram might feel that the glory of the day was his, he was
+not elated by his success, nor rendered blind to the difficulties of his
+position. Fighting with his back to the mountains, he was liable, if he
+suffered defeat, to be entangled in their defiles and lose his entire
+force. Moreover, now that Ctesiphon was no longer his, he had neither
+resources nor _point d'appui_ in the low country, and by falling back
+he would at once be approaching nearer to the main source of his own
+supplies, which was the country about Rei, south of the Caspian, and
+drawing his enemies to a greater distance from the sources of theirs.
+He may even have thought there was a chance of his being unpursued if
+he retired, since the Romans might not like to venture into the mountain
+region, and Chosroes might be impatient to make a triumphal entry into
+his capital. Accordingly, the use which Bahram made of his victory was
+quietly to evacuate his camp, to leave the low plain region, rapidly
+pass the mountains, and take up his quarters in the fertile upland
+beyond them, the district where the Lesser Zab rises, south of Lake
+Urumiyeh.
+
+If he had hoped that his enemies would not pursue him, Bahram was
+disappointed. Chosroes himself, and the whole of the mixed army which
+supported his cause, soon followed on his footsteps, and pressing
+forward to Canzaca, or Shiz, near which he had pitched his camp, offered
+him battle for the second time. Bahram declined the offer, and retreated
+to a position on the Balarathus, where, however, after a short time, he
+was forced to come to an engagement. He had received, it would seem, a
+reinforcement of elephants from the provinces bordering on India, and
+hoped for some advantage from the employment of this new arm. He had
+perhaps augmented his forces, though it must be doubted whether he
+really on this occasion outnumbered his antagonist. At any rate, the
+time seemed to have come when he must abide the issue of his appeal to
+arms, and secure or lose his crown by a supreme effort. Once more the
+armies were drawn up in three distinct bodies; and once more the leaders
+held the established central position. The engagement began along the
+whole line, and continued for a while without marked result. Bahram then
+strengthened his left, and, transferring himself to this part of the
+field, made an impression on the Roman right. But Narses brought up
+supports to their aid, and checked the retreat, which had already begun,
+and which might soon have become general. Hereupon Bahram suddenly fell
+upon the Roman centre and endeavored to break it and drive it from the
+field; but Narses was again a match for him, and met his assault without
+flinching, after which, charging in his turn, he threw the Persian
+centre into confusion. Seeing this, the wings also broke, and a general
+flight began, whereupon 6000 of Bahram's troops deserted, and, drawing
+aside, allowed themselves to be captured. The retreat then became a
+rout. Bahram himself fled with 4,000 men. His camp, with all its rich
+furniture, and his wives and children, were taken. The elephant corps
+still held out and fought valiantly; but it was surrounded and forced
+to surrender. The battle was utterly lost; and the unfortunate chief,
+feeling that all hope was gone, gave the reins to his horse and fled for
+his life. Chosroes sent ten thousand men in pursuit, under Bostam, his
+uncle; and this detachment overtook the fugitives, but was repulsed
+and returned. Bahram continued his flight, and passing through Rei and
+Damaghan, reached the Oxus and placed himself under the protection
+of the Turks. Chosroes, having dismissed his Roman allies, re-entered
+Ctesiphon after a year's absence, and for the second time took his place
+upon the throne of his ancestors.
+
+The coins of Bahram possess a peculiar interest. While there is no
+numismatic evidence which confirms the statement that he struck money
+in the name of the younger Chosroes, there are extant three types of
+his coins, two of which appear to belong to the time before he seated
+himself upon the throne, while one--the last--belongs to the period of
+his actual sovereignty. In his preregnal coins, he copied the devices of
+the last sovereign of his name who had ruled over Persia. He adopted
+the mural crown in a decided form, omitted the stars and crescents, and
+placed his own head amid the flames of the fire-altar. His legends were
+either _Varahran Chub_, "Bahram of the mace," or _Varahran,
+maljcan malka, mazdisn, bagi, ramashtri_, "Bahram, king of kings,
+Ormazd-worshipping, divine, peaceful." [PLATE XXIII, Fig. 2.]
+
+The later coins follow closely the type of his predecessor, Hormisdas
+IV., differing only in the legend, which is, on the obverse, _Varahran
+afzun_, or "Varahran (may he be) greater;" and on the reverse the
+regnal year, with a mint-mark. The regnal year is uniformly "one;" the
+mint-marks are Zadracarta, Iran, and Nihach, an unknown locality. [PLATE
+XXIII., Fig 3.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+_Second Reign of Chosroes II. (Eberwiz). His Rule at first Unpopular,
+His Treatment of his Uncles, Bindoes and Bostam. His vindictive
+Proceedings against Bahram. His supposed Leaning towards Christianity.
+His Wives, Shirin and Kurdiyeh. His early Wars. His Relations with the
+Emperor Maurice. His Attitude towards Phocas. Great War of Chosroes with
+Phocas, A.D. 603-610. War continued with Heraclius. Immense Successes
+of Chosroes, A.D. 611-620. Aggressive taken by Heraclius A.D. 622. His
+Campaigns in Persian Territory A.D. 622-628. Murder of Chosroes. His
+Character. His Coins_.
+
+
+The second reign of Chosroes II., who is commonly known as Chosroes
+Eberwiz or Parwiz, lasted little short of thirty-seven years--from the
+summer of A.D. 591 to the February of A.D. 628. Externally considered,
+it is the most remarkable reign in the entire Sassanian series,
+embracing as it does the extremes of elevation and depression. Never at
+any other time did the Neo-Persian kingdom extend itself so far, or
+so distinguish itself by military achievements, as in the twenty years
+intervening between A.D. 602 and A.D. 622. Seldom was it brought so low
+as in the years immediately anterior and immediately subsequent to
+this space, in the earlier and in the later portions of the reign whose
+central period was so glorious.
+
+Victorious by the help of Rome, Chosroes began his second reign amid the
+scarcely disguised hostility of his subjects. So greatly did he mistrust
+their sentiments towards him that he begged and obtained of Maurice the
+support of a Roman bodyguard, to whom he committed the custody of his
+person. To the odium always attaching in the minds of a spirited people
+to the ruler whose yoke is imposed upon them by a foreign power, he
+added further the stain of a crime which is happily rare at all times,
+and of which (according to the general belief of his subjects) no
+Persian monarch had ever previously been guilty. It was in vain that he
+protested his innocence: the popular belief held him an accomplice in
+his father's murder, and branded the young prince with the horrible name
+of "parricide."
+
+It was no doubt mainly in the hope of purging himself from this
+imputation that, after putting to death the subordinate instruments by
+whom his father's life had been actually taken, he went on to institute
+proceedings against the chief contrivers of the outrage--the two uncles
+who had ordered, and probably witnessed, the execution. So long as the
+success of his arms was doubtful, he had been happy to avail himself of
+their support, and to employ their talents in the struggle against
+his enemies. At one moment in his flight he had owed his life to the
+self-devotion of Bindoes; and both the brothers had merited well of him
+by the efforts which they had made to bring Armenia over to his cause,
+and to levy a powerful army for him in that region. But to clear his own
+character it was necessary that he should forget the ties both of blood
+and gratitude, that he should sink the kinsman in the sovereign, and the
+debtor in the stern avenger of blood. Accordingly, he seized Bindoes,
+who resided at the court, and had him drowned in the Tigris. To Bostam,
+whom he had appointed governor of Rei and Khorassan, he sent an order
+of recall, and would undoubtedly have executed him, had he obeyed;
+but Bostam, suspecting his intentions, deemed it the wisest course to
+revolt, and proclaim himself independent monarch of the north country.
+Here he established himself in authority for some time, and is even
+said to have enlarged his territory at the expense of some of the border
+chieftains; but the vengeance of his nephew pursued him unrelentingly,
+and ere long accomplished his destruction. According to the best
+authority, the instrument employed was Bostam's wife, the sister of
+Bahram, whom Chosroes induced to murder her husband by a promise to make
+her the partner of his bed.
+
+Intrigues not very dissimilar in their character had been previously
+employed to remove Bahram, whom the Persian monarch had not ceased to
+fear, notwithstanding that he was a fugitive and an exile. The Khan of
+the Turks had received him with honor on the occasion of his flight,
+and, according to some authors, had given him his daughter in marriage.
+Chosroes lived in dread of the day when the great general might reappear
+in Persia, at the head of the Turkish hordes, and challenge him to renew
+the lately-terminated contest.
+
+He therefore sent an envoy into Turkestan, well supplied with rich
+gifts, whose instructions were to procure by some means or other the
+death of Bahram. Having sounded the Khan upon the business and met with
+a rebuff, the envoy addressed himself to the Khatun, the Khan's wife,
+and by liberal presents induced her to come into his views. A slave
+was easily found who undertook to carry out his mistress's wishes, and
+Bahram was despatched the same day by means of a poisoned dagger. It is
+painful to find that one thus ungrateful to his friends and relentless
+to his enemies made, to a certain extent, profession of Christianity.
+Little as his heart can have been penetrated by its spirit, Chosroes
+seems certainly, in the earlier part of his reign, to have given
+occasion for the suspicion, which his subjects are said to have
+entertained, that he designed to change his religion, and confess
+himself a convert to the creed of the Greeks. During the period of his
+exile, he was, it would seem, impressed by what he saw and heard, of
+the Christian worship and faith; he learnt to feel or profess a high
+veneration for the Virgin; and he adopted the practice, common at the
+time, of addressing his prayers and vows to the saints and martyrs,
+who were practically the principal objects of the Oriental Christians'
+devotions. Sergius, a martyr, hold in high repute by the Christians of
+Osrhoene and Mesopotamia, was adopted by the superstitious prince as
+a sort of patron saint; and it became his habit, in circumstances of
+difficulty, to vow some gift or other to the shrine of St. Sergius
+at Sergiopolis, in case of the event corresponding to his wishes. Two
+occasions are recorded where, on sending his gift, he accompanied
+it with a letter explaining the circumstances of his vow and its
+fulfilment; and even the letters themselves have come down to us, but in
+a Greek version. In one, Chosroes ascribes the success of his arms on a
+particular occasion to the influence of his self-chosen patron; in the
+other, he credits him with having procured by his prayers the pregnancy
+of Sira (Shirin), the most beautiful and best beloved of his wives. It
+appears that Sira was a Christian, and that in marrying her Chosroes had
+contravened the laws of his country, which forbade the king to have a
+Christian wife. Her influence over him was considerable, and she is said
+to have been allowed to build numerous churches and monasteries in and
+about Ctesiphon. When she died, Chosroes called in the aid of sculpture
+to perpetuate her image, and sent her statue to the Roman Emperor, to
+the Turkish Khan, and to various other potentates.
+
+Chosroes is said to have maintained an enormous seraglio; but of these
+secondary wives, none is known to us even by name, except Kurdiyeh, the
+sister of Bahram and widow of Bostam, whom she murdered at Chosroes's
+suggestion.
+
+During the earlier portion of his reign Chosroes seems to have been
+engaged in but few wars, and those of no great importance. According to
+the Armenian writers, he formed a design of depopulating that part of
+Armenia which he had not ceded to the Romans, by making a general levy
+of all the males, and marching them off to the East, to fight against
+the Ephthalites; but the design did not prosper, since the Armenians
+carried all before them, and under their native leader, Smbat, the
+Bagratunian, conquered Hyrcania and Tabaristan, defeated repeatedly the
+Koushans and the Ephthalites, and even engaged with success the Great
+Khan of the Turks, who came to the support of his vassals at the head
+of an army consisting of 300.000 men. By the valor and conduct of Smbat,
+the Persian dominion was re-established in the north-eastern mountain
+region, from Mount Demavend to the Hindu Kush; the Koushans, Turks, and
+Ephthalitos were held in check; and the tide of barbarism, which had
+threatened to submerge the empire on this side, was effectually resisted
+and rolled back.
+
+With Rome Chosroes maintained for eleven years the most friendly
+and cordial relations. Whatever humiliation he may have felt when he
+accepted the terms on which alone Maurice was willing to render him aid,
+having once agreed to them, he stifled all regrets, made no attempt to
+evade his obligations, abstained from every endeavor to undo by intrigue
+what he had done, unwillingly indeed, but yet with his eyes open. Once
+only during the eleven years did a momentary cloud arise between him
+and his benefactor. In the year A.D. 600 some of the Saracenic tribes
+dependent on Rome made an incursion across the Euphrates into Persian
+territory, ravaged it far and wide, and returned with their booty
+into the desert. Chosroes was justly offended, and might fairly have
+considered that a _casus belli_ had arisen; but he allowed himself to
+be pacified by the representations of Maurice's envoy, George, and
+consented not to break the peace on account of so small a matter. George
+claimed the concession as a tribute to his own amiable qualities; but
+it is probable that the Persian monarch acted rather on the grounds of
+general policy than from any personal predilection.
+
+Two years later the virtuous but perhaps over-rigid Maurice was deposed
+and murdered by the centurion, Phocas, who, on the strength of his
+popularity with the army, boldly usurped the throne. Chosroes heard
+with indignation of the execution of his ally and friend, of the insults
+offered to his remains, and of the assassination of his numerous sons,
+and of his brother. One son, he heard, had been sent off by Maurice to
+implore aid from the Persians; he had been overtaken and put to death
+by the emissaries of the usurper; but rumor, always busy where royal
+personages are concerned, asserted that he lived, that he had escaped
+his pursuers, and had reached Ctesiphon. Chosroes was too much
+interested in the acceptance of the rumor to deny it; he gave out that
+Theodosius was at his court, and notified that it was his intention
+to assert his right to the succession. When, five months after his
+coronation, Phocas sent an envoy to announce his occupation of the
+throne, and selected the actual murderer of Maurice to fill the post,
+Chosroes determined on an open rupture. He seized Lilius, the envoy,
+threw him into prison, announced his intention of avenging his deceased
+benefactor, and openly declared war against Rome.
+
+The war burst out the next year (A.D. 603). On the Roman side there was
+disagreement, and even civil war; for Narses, who had held high command
+in the East ever since he restored Chosroes to the throne of his
+ancestors, on hearing of the death of Maurice, took up arms against
+Phocas, and, throwing himself into Edessa, defied the forces of the
+usurper. Germanus, who commanded at Daras, was a general of small
+capacity, and found himself quite unable to make head, either against
+Narses in Edessa, or against Chosroes, who led his troops in person into
+Mesopotamia. Defeated by Chosroes in a battle near Daras, in which he
+received a mortal wound, Germanus withdrew to Constantia, where he died
+eleven days afterwards. A certain Leontius, a eunuch, took his place,
+but was equally unsuccessful. Chosroes defeated him at Arxamus, and
+took a great portion of his army prisoners; whereupon he was recalled by
+Phocas, and a third leader, Domentziolus, a nephew of the emperor, was
+appointed to the command. Against him the Persian monarch thought it
+enough to employ generals. The war now languished for a short space; but
+in A.D. 605 Chosroes came up in person against Daras, the great Roman
+stronghold in these parts, and besieged it for the space of nine months,
+at the end of which time it surrendered. The loss was a severe blow to
+the Roman prestige, and was followed in the next year by a long
+series of calamities. Chosroes took Tur-abdin, Hesen-Cephas, Mardin,
+Capher-tuta, and Amida. Two years afterwards, A.D. 607, he captured
+Harran (Carrhse), Ras-el-ain (Resaina), and Edessa, the capital of
+Osrhoene, after which he pressed forward to the Euphrates, crossed with
+his army into Syria, and fell with fury on the Roman cities west of the
+river. Mabog or Hierapolis, Kenneserin, and Berhoea (now Aleppo), were
+invested and taken in the course of one or at most two campaigns; while
+at the same time (A.D. 609) a second Persian army, under a general
+whose name is unknown, after operating in Armenia, and taking Satala
+and Theodosiopolis, invaded Cappadocia and threatened the great city of
+Caesarea Mazaca, which was the chief Roman stronghold in these parts.
+Bands of marauders wasted the open country, carrying terror through the
+fertile districts of Phyrgia and Galatia, which had known nothing of
+the horrors of war for centuries, and were rich with the accumulated
+products of industry. According to Theophanes, some of the ravages even
+penetrated as far as Chalcedon, on the opposite side of the straits
+from Constantinople; but this is probably the anticipation of an event
+belonging to a later time. No movements of importance are assigned to
+A.D. 610; but in the May of the next year the Persians once more crossed
+the Euphrates, completely defeated and destroyed the Roman army which
+protected Syria, and sacked the two great cities of Apameia and Antioch.
+
+Meantime a change had occurred at Constantinople. The double revolt of
+Heraclius, prefect of Egypt, and Gregory, his lieutenant, had brought
+the reign of the brutal and incapable Phocas to an end, and placed
+upon the imperial throne a youth of promise, innocent of the blood
+of Maurice, and well inclined to avenge it. Chosroes had to consider
+whether he should adhere to his original statement, that he took up arms
+to punish the murderer of his friend, and benefactor, and consequently
+desist from further hostilities now that Phocas was dead, or whether,
+throwing consistency to the winds, he should continue to prosecute the
+war, notwithstanding the change of rulers, and endeavor to push to the
+utmost the advantage which he had already obtained. He resolved on this
+latter alternative. It was while the young Heraclius was still insecure
+in his seat that he sent his armies into Syria, defeated the Roman
+troops, and took Antioch and Apameia. Following up blow with blow, he
+the next year (A.D. 612) invaded Cappadocia a second time and captured
+Csesarea Mazaca. Two years later (A.D. 614) he sent his general
+Shahr-Barz, into the region east of the Antilibanus, and took the
+ancient and famous city of Damascus. From Damascus, in the ensuing year,
+Shahr-Barz advanced against Palestine, and, summoning the Jews to his
+aid, proclaimed a Holy War against the Christian misbelievers, whom
+he threatened to enslave or exterminate. Twenty-six thousand of these
+fanatics flocked to his standard; and having occupied the Jordan region
+and Galileee, Shahr-Barz in A.D. 615 invested Jerusalem, and after a
+siege of eighteen days forced his way into the town, and gave it over to
+plunder and rapine. The cruel hostility of the Jews had free vent.
+The churches of Helena, of Constantine, of the Holy Sepulchre, of the
+Resurrection, and many others, were burnt or ruined; the greater part of
+the city was destroyed; the sacred treasuries were plundered; the relics
+scattered or carried off; and a massacre of the inhabitants, in which
+the Jews took the chief part, raged throughout the whole city for some
+days. As many as seventeen thousand or, according to another account,
+ninety thousand, were slain. Thirty-five thousand were made prisoners.
+Among them was the aged Patriarch, Zacharius, who was carried captive
+into Persia, where he remained till his death.
+
+The Cross found by Helena, and believed to be "the True Cross," was at
+the same time transported to Ctesiphon, where it was preserved with care
+and duly venerated by the Christian wife of Chosroes.
+
+A still more important success followed. In A.D. 616 Shahr-Barz
+proceeded from Palestine into Egypt, which had enjoyed a respite from
+foreign war since the time of Julius Caesar, surprised Pelusium, the
+key of the country, and, pressing forward across the Delta, easily made
+himself master of the rich and prosperous Alexandria. John the Merciful,
+who was the Patriarch, and Nicetas the Patrician, who was the governor,
+had quitted the city before his arrival, and had fled to Cyprus. Hence
+scarcely any resistance was made. The fall of Alexandria was followed at
+once by the complete submission of the rest of Egypt. Bands of Persians
+advanced up the Nile valley to the very confines of Ethiopia, and
+established the authority of Chosroes over the whole country--a country
+in which no Persian had set foot since it was wrested by Alexander of
+Macedon from Darius Codomannus.
+
+While this remarkable conquest was made in the southwest, in the
+north-west another Persian army under another general, Saina or Shahen,
+starting from Cappadocia, marched through Asia Minor to the shores of
+the Thracian Bosphorus, and laid siege to the strong city of Chalcedon,
+which lay upon the strait, just opposite Constantinople. Chalcedon
+made a vigorous resistance; and Heraclius, anxious to save it, had an
+interview with Shahen, and at his suggestion sent three of his highest
+nobles as ambassadors to Chosroes, with a humble request for peace.
+The overture was ineffectual. Chosroes imprisoned the ambassadors and
+entreated them cruelly; threatened Shahen with death for not bringing
+Heraclius in chains to the foot of his throne; and declared in reply
+that he would grant no terms of peace--the empire was his, and Heraclius
+must descend from his throne. Soon afterwards (A.D. 617) Chalcedon,
+which was besieged through the winter, fell; and the Persians
+established themselves in this important stronghold, within a mile
+of Constantinople. Three years afterwards, Ancyra (Angora), which
+had hitherto resisted the Persian arms, was taken; and Rhodes, though
+inaccessible to an enemy who was without a naval force, submitted.
+
+Thus the whole of the Roman possessions in Asia and Eastern Africa were
+lost in the space of fifteen years. The empire of Persia was extended
+from the Tigris and Euphrates to the Egean and the Nile, attaining once
+more almost the same dimensions that it had reached under the first and
+had kept until the third Darius. It is difficult to say how far their
+newly acquired provinces wore really subdued, organized, and governed
+from Ctesiphon, how far they were merely overrun, plundered, and
+then left to themselves. On the one hand, we have indications of the
+existence of terrible disorders and of something approaching to anarchy
+in parts of the conquered territory during the time that it was held by
+the Persians; on the other, we seem to see an intention to retain,
+to govern, and even to beautify it. Eutychius relates that, on the
+withdrawal of the Romans from Syria, the Jews resident in Tyre, who
+numbered four thousand, plotted with their co-religionists of Jerusalem,
+Cyprus, Damascus, and Galilee, a general massacre of the Tyrian
+Christians on a certain day. The plot was discovered; and the Jews of
+Tyre were arrested and imprisoned by their fellow-citizens, who put the
+city in a state of defence; and when the foreign Jews, to the number of
+26,000, came at the appointed time, repulsed them from the walls, and
+defeated them with great slaughter. This story suggests the idea of a
+complete and general disorganization. But on the other hand we hear of
+an augmentation of the revenue under Chosroes II., which seems to imply
+the establishment in the regions conquered of a settled government; and
+the palace at Mashita, discovered by a recent traveller, is a striking
+proof that no temporary occupation was contemplated, but that Chosroes
+regarded his conquests as permanent acquisitions, and meant to hold them
+and even visit them occasionally.
+
+Heraclius was now well-nigh driven to despair. The loss of Egypt reduced
+Constantinople to want, and its noisy populace clamored for food. The
+Avars overran Thrace, and continually approached nearer to the capital.
+The glitter of the Persian arms was to be seen at any moment, if he
+looked from his palace windows across the Bosphorus. No prospect of
+assistance or relief appeared from any quarter. The empire was reduced
+to the walls of Constantinople, with the remnant of Greece, Italy, and
+Africa, and some maritime cities, from Tyre to Trebizond, of the Asiatic
+Coast. It is not surprising that under the circumstances the despondent
+monarch determined on flight, and secretly made arrangements for
+transporting himself and his treasures to the distant Carthage, where
+he might hope at least to find himself in safety. His ships, laden with
+their precious freight, had put to sea, and he was about to follow them,
+when his intention became known or was suspected; the people rose; and
+the Patriarch, espousing their side, forced the reluctant prince to
+accompany him to the church of St. Sophia, and there make oath that,
+come what might, he would not separate his fortunes from those of the
+imperial city.
+
+Baffled in his design to escape from his difficulties by flight,
+Heraclius took a desperate resolution. He would leave Constantinople to
+its fate, trust its safety to the protection afforded by its walls and
+by the strait which separated it from Asia, embark with such troops as
+he could collect, and carry the war into the enemy's country. The one
+advantage which he had over his adversary was his possession of an ample
+navy, and consequent command of the sea and power to strike his blows
+unexpectedly in different quarters. On making known his intention,
+it was not opposed, either by the people or by the Patriarch. He was
+allowed to coin the treasures of the various churches into money, to
+collect stores, enroll troops, and, on the Easter Monday of A.D. 622, to
+set forth on his expedition.
+
+His fleet was steered southward, and, though forced to contend
+with adverse gales, made a speedy and successful voyage through the
+Propontis, the Hellespont, the Egean, and the Cilician Strait, to the
+Gulf of Issus, in the angle between Asia Minor and Syria. The position
+was well chosen, as one where attack was difficult, where numbers would
+give little advantage, and where consequently a small but resolute force
+might easily maintain itself against a greatly superior enemy. At the
+same time it was a post from which an advance might conveniently be
+made in several directions, and which menaced almost equally Asia Minor,
+Syria, and Armenia. Moreover, the level tract between the mountains and
+the sea was broad enough for the manoeuvres of such an army as Heraclius
+commanded, and allowed him to train his soldiers by exercises and sham
+fights to a familiarity with the sights and sounds and movements of a
+battle. He conjectured, rightly enough, that he would not long be left
+unmolested by the enemy. Shahr-Barz, the conqueror of Jerusalem and
+Egypt, was very soon sent against him; and, after various movements,
+which it is impossible to follow, a battle was fought between the two
+armies in the mountain country towards the Armenian frontier, in which
+the hero of a hundred fights was defeated and the Romans, for the first
+time since the death of Maurice, obtained a victory. After this, on the
+approach of winter, Heraclius, accompanied probably by a portion of his
+army, returned by sea to Constantinople.
+
+The next year the attack was made in a different quarter. Having
+concluded alliances with the Khan of the Khazars and some other chiefs
+of inferior power, Heraclius in the month of March embarked with 5000
+men, and proceeded from Constantinople by way of the Black Sea first
+to Trebizond, and then to Mingrelia or Lazica. There he obtained
+contingents from his allies, which, added to the forces collected from.
+Trebizond and the other maritime towns, may perhaps have raised his
+troops to the number of 120,000, at which we find them estimated. With
+this army, he crossed the Araxes, and invaded Armenia. Chosroes, on
+receiving the intelligence, proceeded into Azorbijan with 40,000 men,
+and occupied the strong city of Canzaca, the site of which is probably
+marked by the ruins known as Takht-i-Suleiman. At the same time he
+ordered two other armies, which he had sent on in advance, one of them
+commanded by Shahr-Barz, the other by Shahen, to effect a junction
+and oppose themselves to the further progress of the emperor. The two
+generals were, however, tardy in their movements, or at any rate were
+outstripped by the activity of Heraclius, who, pressing forward from
+Armenia into Azerbijan, directed his march upon Canzaca, hoping to bring
+the Great King to a battle. His advance-guard of Saracens did actually
+surprise the picquets of Chosroes; but the king himself hastily
+evacuated the Median stronghold, and retreated southwards through
+Ardelan towards the Zagros mountains, thus avoiding the engagement which
+was desired by his antagonist. The army, on witnessing the flight of
+their monarch, broke up and dispersed. Heraclius pressed upon the flying
+host and slew all whom he caught, but did not suffer himself to be
+diverted from his main object, which was to overtake Chosroes. His
+pursuit, however, was unsuccessful. Chosroes availed himself of the
+rough and difficult country which lies between Azerbijan and the
+Mesopotamian lowland, and by moving from, place to place contrive to
+baffle his enemy. Winter arrived, and Heraclius had to determine whether
+he would continue his quest at the risk of having to pass the cold
+season in the enemy's country, far from all his resources, or relinquish
+it and retreat to a safe position. Finding his soldiers divided in their
+wishes, he trusted the decision to chance, and opening the Gospel at
+random settled the doubt by applying the first passage that met his eye
+to its solution. The passage suggested retreat; and Heraclius, retracing
+his steps, recrossed the Araxes, and wintered in Albania.
+
+The return of Heraclius was not unmolested. He had excited the
+fanaticism of the Persians by destroying, wherever he went, the temples
+of the Magians, and extinguishing the sacred fire, which it was a part
+of their religion to keep continually burning. He had also everywhere
+delivered the cities and villages to the flames, and carried off many
+thousands of the population. The exasperated enemy consequently hung
+upon his rear, impeded his march, and no doubt caused him considerable
+loss, though, when it came to fighting, Heraclius always gained the
+victory. He reached Albania without sustaining any serious disaster,
+and even brought with him 50,000 captives; but motives of pity, or of
+self-interest, caused him soon afterwards to set these prisoners free.
+It would have been difficult to feed and house them through the long and
+severe winter, and disgraceful to sell or massacre them.
+
+In the year A.D. 624 Chosroes took the offensive, and, before Heraclius
+had quitted his winter quarters, sent a general, at the head of a force
+of picked troops, into Albania, with the view of detaining him in that
+remote province during the season of military operations. But Sarablagas
+feared his adversary too much to be able very effectually to check his
+movements; he was content to guard the passes, and hold the high ground,
+without hazarding an engagement. Heraclius contrived after a time
+to avoid him, and penetrated into Persia through a series of plains,
+probably those along the course and about the mouth of the Araxes. It
+was now his wish to push rapidly southward; but the auxiliaries on whom
+he greatly depended were unwilling; and, while he doubted what course
+to take, three Persian armies, under commanders of note, closed in upon
+him, and threatened his small force with destruction. Heraclius feigned
+a disordered flight, and drew on him an attack from two out of the three
+chiefs, which he easily repelled. Then he fell upon the third, Shahen,
+and completely defeated him. A way seemed to be thus opened for him into
+the heart of Persia, and he once more set off to seek Chosroes; but now
+his allies began to desert his standard, and return to their homes;
+the defeated Persians rallied and impeded his march; he was obliged to
+content himself with a third, victory, at a place which Theophanes
+calls Salban, where he surprised Shahr-Barz in the dead of the night,
+massacred his troops, his wives, his officers, and the mass of the
+population, which fought from the flat roofs of the houses, took the
+general's arms and equipage, and was within a little of capturing
+Shahr-barz himself. The remnant of the Persian army fled in disorder,
+and was hunted down by Heraclius, who pursued the fugitives unceasingly
+till the cold season approached, and he had to retire into cantonments.
+The half-burnt Salban afforded a welcome shelter to his troops during
+the snows and storms of an Armenian winter.
+
+Early in the ensuing spring the indefatigable emperor again set his
+troops in motion, and, passing the lofty range which separates the basin
+of Lake Van from the streams that flow into the upper Tigris, struck
+that river, or rather its large affluent, the Bitlis Chai, in seven days
+from Salban, crossed into Arzanene, and proceeding westward recovered
+Martyropolis and Amida, which had now been in the possession of the
+Persians for twenty years. At Amida he made a halt, and wrote to
+inform the Senate of Constantinople of his position and his victories,
+intelligence which they must have received gladly after having lost
+sight of him for above a twelvemonth. But he was not allowed to remain
+long undisturbed. Before the end of March Shahr-Barz had again taken
+the field in force, had occupied the usual passage of the Euphrates, and
+threatened the line of retreat which Heraclius had looked upon as open
+to him. Unable to cross the Euphrates by the bridge, which Shahr-barz
+had broken, the emperor descended the stream till he found a ford,
+when he transported his army to the other bank, and hastened by way of
+Samosata and Germanicaea into Cilicia. Here he was once more in his own
+territory, with the sea close at hand, ready to bring him supplies or
+afford him a safe retreat, in a position with whose advantages he was
+familiar, where broad plains gave an opportunity for skilful maneuvers,
+and deep rapid rivers rendered defence easy. Heraclius took up a
+position on the right bank of the Sarus (Syhuri), in the immediate
+vicinity of the fortified bridge by which alone the stream could be
+crossed. Shahr-Barz followed, and ranged his troops along the left bank,
+placing the archers in the front line, while he made preparations to
+draw the enemy from the defence of the bridge into the plain on the
+other side. He was so far successful that the Roman occupation of the
+bridge was endangered; but Heraclius, by his personal valor and by
+almost superhuman exertions, restored the day; with his own hand he
+struck down a Persian of gigantic stature and flung him from the bridge
+into the river; then pushing on with a few companions, he charged the
+Persian host in the plain, receiving undaunted a shower of blows, while
+he dealt destruction on all sides. The fight was prolonged until the
+evening and even then was undecided; but Shahr-Barz had convinced
+himself that he could not renew the combat with any prospect of victory.
+He therefore retreated during the night, and withdrew from Cilicia.
+Heraclius, finding himself free to march where he pleased, crossed
+the Taurus, and proceeded to Sebaste (Sivas), upon the Halys, where
+he wintered in the heart of Cappadocia, about half-way between the two
+seas. According to Theophanes the Persian monarch was so much enraged at
+this bold and adventurous march, and at the success which had attended
+it, that, by way of revenging himself on Heraclius, he seized the
+treasures of all the Christian churches in his dominions, and
+compelled the orthodox believers to embrace the Nestorian heresy. The
+twenty-fourth year of the war had now arrived, and it was difficult
+to say on which side lay the balance of advantage. If Chosroes still
+maintained his hold on Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor as far as
+Chalcedon, if his troops still flaunted their banners within sight
+of Constantinople, yet on the other hand he had seen his hereditary
+dominions deeply penetrated by the armies of his adversary; he had had
+his best generals defeated, his cities and palaces burnt, his favorite
+provinces wasted; Heraclius had proved himself a most formidable
+opponent; and unless some vital blow could be dealt him at home, there
+was no forecasting the damage that he might not inflict on Persia by a
+fresh invasion. Chosroes therefore made a desperate attempt to bring the
+war to a close by an effort, the success of which would have changed the
+history of the world. Having enrolled as soldiers, besides Persians,
+a vast number of foreigners and slaves, and having concluded a close
+alliance with the Khan of the Avars, he formed two great armies, one
+of which was intended to watch Heraclius in Asia Minor, while the other
+co-operated with the Avars and forced Constantinople to surrender. The
+army destined to contend with the emperor was placed under the command
+of Shahen; that which was to bear a part in the siege of Constantinople
+was committed to Shahr-Barz. It is remarkable that Heraclius, though
+quite aware of his adversary's plans, instead of seeking to baffle
+them, made such arrangements as facilitated the attempt to put them
+into execution. He divided his own troops into three bodies, one only of
+which he sent to aid in the defence of his capital. The second body he
+left with his brother Theodore, whom he regarded as a sufficient match
+for Shahen. With the third division he proceeded eastward to the remote
+province of Lazica, and there engaged in operations which could but very
+slightly affect the general course of the war. The Khazars were once
+more called in as allies; and their Khan, Ziebel, who coveted the
+plunder of Tiflis, held an interview with the emperor in the sight of
+the Persians who guarded that town, adored his majesty, and received
+from his hands the diadem that adorned his own brow. Richly entertained,
+and presented with all the plate used in the banquet, with a royal robe,
+and a pair of pearl earrings, promised moreover the daughter of the
+emperor (whose portrait he was shown) in marriage, the barbarian chief,
+dazzled and flattered, readily concluded an alliance, and associated his
+arms with those of the Romans. A joint attack was made upon Tiflis, and
+the town was reduced to extremities; when Sarablagas, with a thousand
+men, contrived to throw himself into it, and the allies, disheartened
+thereby, raised the siege and retired.
+
+Meanwhile, in Asia Minor, Theodore engaged the army of Shahen; and, a
+violent hailstorm raging at the time, which drove into the enemy's face,
+while the Romans were, comparatively speaking, sheltered from its force,
+he succeeded in defeating his antagonist with great slaughter. Chosroes
+was infuriated; and the displeasure of his sovereign weighed so heavily
+upon the mind of Shahen that he shortly afterwards sickened and died.
+The barbarous monarch gave orders that his corpse should be embalmed and
+sent to the court, in order that he might gratify his spleen by treating
+it with the grossest indignity.
+
+At Constantinople the Persian cause was equally unsuccessful.
+Shahr-Barz, from Chalcedon, entered into negotiations with the Khan of
+the Avars, and found but little difficulty in persuading him to make
+an attempt upon the imperial city. From their seats beyond the Danube
+a host of barbarians--Avars, Slaves, Gepidas, Bulgarians, and
+others--advanced through the passes of Heemus into the plains of Thrace,
+destroying and ravaging. The population fled before them and sought the
+protection of the city walls, which had been carefully strengthened in
+expectation of the attack, and were in good order. The hordes forced the
+outer works; but all their efforts, though made both by land and sea,
+were unavailing against the main defences; their attempt to sap the wall
+failed; their artillery was met and crushed by engines of greater power;
+a fleet of Slavonian canoes, which endeavored to force an entrance by
+the Golden Horn, was destroyed or driven ashore; the towers with which
+they sought to overtop the walls were burnt; and, after ten days of
+constantly repeated assaults, the barbarian leader became convinced
+that he had undertaken an impossible enterprise, and, having burnt his
+engines and his siege works, he retired. The result might have been
+different had the Persians, who were experienced in the attack of walled
+places, been able to co-operate with him; but the narrow channel which
+flowed between Chalcedon and the Golden Horn proved an insurmountable
+barrier; the Persians had no ships, and the canoes of the Slavonians
+were quite unable to contend with the powerful galleys of the
+Byzantines, so that the transport of a body of Persian troops from
+Asia to Europe by their aid proved impracticable. Shahr-Barz had the
+annoyance of witnessing the efforts and defeat of his allies, without
+having it in his power to take any active steps towards assisting the
+one or hindering the other.
+
+The war now approached its termination; for the last hope of the
+Persians had failed; and Heraclius, with his mind set at rest as
+regarded his capital, was free to strike at any part of Persia that he
+pleased, and, having the prestige of victory and the assistance of the
+Khazars, was likely to carry all before him. It is not clear how he
+employed himself during the spring and summer of A.D. 627; but in the
+September of that year he started from Lazica with a large Roman army
+and a contingent of 40,000 Khazar horse, resolved to surprise
+his adversary by a winter campaign, and hoping to take him at a
+disadvantage. Passing rapidly through Armenia and Azerbijan without
+meeting an enemy that dared to dispute his advance, suffering no
+loss except from the guerilla warfare of some bold spirits among
+the mountaineers of those regions, he resolved, notwithstanding the
+defection of the Khazars, who declined to accompany him further south
+than Azerbijan, that he would cross the Zagros mountains into Assyria,
+and make a dash at the royal cities of the Mesopotamian region, thus
+retaliating upon Chosroes for the Avar attack upon Constantinople of the
+preceding year, undertaken at his instigation. Chosroes himself had for
+the last twenty-four years fixed his court at Dastagherd in the plain
+country, about seventy miles to the north of Ctesiphon. It seemed to
+Heraclius that this position might perhaps be reached, and an effective
+blow struck against the Persian power. He hastened, therefore, to cross
+the mountains; and the 9th of October saw him at Chnaethas, in the low
+country, not far from Arbela, where he refreshed his army by a week's
+rest. He might now easily have advanced along the great post-road which
+connected Arbela with Dastagherd and Ctesiphon; but he had probably by
+this time received information of the movements of the Persians, and was
+aware that by so doing he would place himself between two fires, and
+run the chance of being intercepted in his retreat. For Chosroes, having
+collected a large force, had sent it, under Ehazates, a new general,
+into Azerbijan; and this force, having reached Canzaca, found itself in
+the rear of Heraclius, between him and Lazica. Heraclius appears not to
+have thought it safe to leave this enemy behind him, and therefore he
+idled away above a month in the Zab region, waiting for Ehazates to make
+his appearance. That general had strict orders from the Great King
+to fight the Romans wherever he found them, whatever might be the
+consequence; and he therefore followed, as quickly as he could, upon
+Heraclius's footsteps, and early in December came up with him in the
+neighborhood of Nineveh. Both parties were anxious for an immediate
+engagement, Rhazates to carry out his master's orders, Heraclius because
+he had heard that his adversary would soon receive a reinforcement.
+The battle took place on the 12th of December, in the open plain to the
+north of Nineveh. It was contested from early dawn to the eleventh hour
+of the day, and was finally decided, more by the accident that Rhazates
+and the other Persian commanders were slain, than by any defeat of the
+soldiers. Heraclius is said to have distinguished himself personally
+during the fight by many valiant exploits; but he does not appear to
+have exhibited any remarkable strategy on the occasion. The Persians
+lost their generals, their chariots, and as many as twenty-eight
+standards; but they were not routed, nor driven from the field. They
+merely drew off to the distance of two bowshots, and there stood firm
+till after nightfall. During the night they fell back further upon
+their fortified camp, collected their baggage, and retired to a strong
+position at the foot of the mountains. Here they were joined by
+the reinforcement which Chosroes had sent to their aid; and thus
+strengthened they ventured to approach Heraclius once more, to hang on
+his rear, and impede his movements. He, after his victory, had resumed
+his march southward, had occupied Nineveh, recrossed the Groat Zab,
+advanced rapidly through Adiabene to the Lesser Zab, seized its bridges
+by a forced march of forty-eight (Roman) miles, and conveyed his army
+safely to its left bank, where he pitched his camp at a place called
+Yesdem, and once more allowed his soldiers a brief repose for the
+purpose of keeping Christmas. Chosroes had by this time heard of the
+defeat and death of Rhazates, and was in a state of extreme alarm.
+Hastily recalling Shahr-Barz from Chalcedon, and ordering the troops
+lately commanded by Rhazates to outstrip the Romans, if possible, and
+interpose themselves between Heraclius and Dastaghord, he took up
+a strong position near that place with his own army and a number of
+elephants, and expressed an intention of there awaiting his antagonist.
+A broad and deep river, or rather canal, known as the Baras-roth or
+Barazrud, protected his front; while at some distance further in advance
+was the Torna, probably another canal, where he expected that the army
+of Rhazates would make a stand. But that force, demoralized by its
+recent defeat, fell back from the line of the Torna, without even
+destroying the bridge over it; and Chosroes, finding the foe advancing
+on him, lost heart, and secretly fled from Dastagherd to Ctesiphon,
+whence he crossed the Tigris to Guedeseer or Seleucia, with his treasure
+and the best-loved of his wives and children. The army lately under
+Rhazates rallied upon the line of the Nahr-wan canal, three miles
+from Ctesiphon; and here it was largely reinforced, though with a mere
+worthless mob of slaves and domestics. It made however a formidable
+show, supported by its elephants, which numbered two hundred; it had a
+deep and wide cutting in its front; and, this time, it had taken care
+to destroy all the bridges by which the cutting might have been crossed.
+Heraclius, having plundered the rich palace of Dastagherd, together
+with several less splendid royal residences, and having on the 10th of
+January encamped within twelve miles of the Nahrwan, and learnt from
+the commander of the Armenian contingent, whom he sent forward to
+reconnoitre, that the canal was impassable, came to the conclusion that
+his expedition had reached its extreme limit, and that prudence required
+him to commence his retreat. The season had been, it would seem,
+exceptionally mild, and the passes of the mountains were still open; but
+it was to be expected that in a few weeks they would be closed by the
+snow, which always falls heavily during some portion of the winter.
+Heraclius, therefore, like Julian, having come within sight of
+Ctesiphon, shrank from the idea of besieging it, and, content with
+the punishment that he had inflicted on his enemy by wasting and
+devastation, desisted from his expedition, and retraced his steps. In
+his retreat he was more fortunate than his great predecessor. The defeat
+which he had inflicted on the main army of the Persians paralyzed their
+energies, and it would seem that his return march was unmolested. He
+reached Siazurus (_Shehrizur_) early in February, Barzan (_Berozeh_)
+probably on the 1st of March,176 and on the 11th of March Canzaca, where
+he remained during the rest of the winter.
+
+Chosroes had escaped a great danger, but he had incurred a terrible
+disgrace. He had fled before his adversary without venturing to give
+him battle. He had seen palace after palace destroyed, and had lost
+the magnificent residence where he had held his court for the last
+four-and-twenty years. The Romans had recovered 300 standards, trophies
+gained in the numerous victories of his early years. They had shown
+themselves able to penetrate into the heart of his empire, and to retire
+without suffering any loss. Still, had he possessed a moderate amount
+of prudence, Chosroes might even now have surmounted the perils of
+his position, and have terminated his reign in tranquillity, if not
+in glory. Heraclius was anxious for peace, and willing to grant it on
+reasonable conditions. He did not aim at conquests, and would have been
+contented at any time with the restoration of Egypt, Syria, and Asia
+Minor. The Persians generally were weary of the war, and would have
+hailed with joy almost any terms of accommodation. But Chosroes was
+obstinate; he did not know how to bear the frowns of fortune; the
+disasters of the late campaign, instead of bending his spirit, had
+simply exasperated him, and he vented upon his own subjects the
+ill-humor which the successes of his enemies had provoked. Lending a
+too ready ear to a whispered slander, he ordered the execution of
+Shahr-Barz, and thus mortally offended that general, to whom the
+despatch was communicated by the Romans. He imprisoned the officers
+who had been defeated by, or had fled before Heraclius. Several other
+tyrannical acts are alleged against him; and it is said that he was
+contemplating the setting aside of his legitimate successor, Siroes, in
+favor of a younger son, Merdasas, his offspring by his favorite wife,
+the Christian Shirin, when a rebellion broke out against his authority.
+Gurdanaspa, who was in command of the Persian troops at Ctesiphon,
+and twenty-two nobles of importance, including two sons of Shahr-Barz,
+embraced the cause of Siroes, and seizing Chosroes, who meditated
+flight, committed him to "the House of Darkness," a strong place where
+he kept his money. Here he was confined for four days, his jailers
+allowing him daily a morsel of bread and a small quantity of water; when
+he complained of hunger, they told him, by his son's orders, that he
+was welcome to satisfy his appetite by feasting upon his treasures. The
+officers whom he had confined were allowed free access to his prison,
+where they insulted him and spat upon him. Merdasas, the son whom he
+preferred, and several of his other children, were brought into his
+presence and put to death before his eyes. After suffering in this way
+for four days he was at last, on the fifth day from his arrest (February
+28), put to death in some cruel fashion, perhaps, like St. Sebastian,
+by being transfixed with arrows. Thus perished miserably the second
+Chosroes, after having reigned thirty-seven years (A.D. 591-628), a just
+but tardy Nemesis overtaking the parricide.
+
+The Oriental writers represent the second Chosroes as a monarch whose
+character was originally admirable, but whose good disposition was
+gradually corrupted by the possession of sovereign power. "Parviz," says
+Mirkhond, "holds a distinguished rank among the kings of Persia through
+the majesty and firmness of his government, the wisdom of his views, and
+his intrepidity in carrying them out, the size of his army, the amount
+of his treasure, the flourishing condition of the provinces during his
+reign, the security of the highways, the prompt and exact obedience
+which he enforced, and his unalterable adherence to the plans which
+he once formed." It is impossible that these praises can have been
+altogether undeserved; and we are bound to assign to this monarch, on
+the authority of the Orientals, a vigor of administration, a strength
+of will, and a capacity for governing, not very commonly possessed
+by princes born in the purple. To these merits we may add a certain
+grandeur of soul, and power of appreciating the beautiful and
+the magnificent, which, though not uncommon in the East, did not
+characterize many of the Sassanian sovereigns. The architectural remains
+of Chosroes, which will be noticed in a future chapter, the descriptions
+which have come down to us of his palaces at Dastagherd and Canzaca, the
+accounts which we have of his treasures, his court, his seraglio, even
+his seals, transcend all that is known of any other monarch of his line.
+The employment of Byzantine sculptors and architects, which his works
+are thought to indicate, implies an appreciation of artistic excellence
+very rare among Orientals. But against these merits must be set a number
+of most serious moral defects, which may have been aggravated as time
+went on, but of which we see something more than the germ, even while
+he was still a youth. The murder of his father was perhaps a state
+necessity, and he may not have commanded it, or have been accessory
+to it before the fact; but his ingratitude towards his uncles, whom he
+deliberately put to death, is wholly unpardonable, and shows him to have
+been cruel, selfish, and utterly without natural affection, even in the
+earlier portion of his reign. In war he exhibited neither courage nor
+conduct; all his main military successes were due to his generals; and
+in his later years he seems never voluntarily to have exposed himself to
+danger. In suspecting his generals, and ill-using them while living, he
+only followed the traditions of his house; but the insults offered to
+the dead body of Shahen, whose only fault was that he had suffered a
+defeat, were unusual and outrageous. The accounts given of his seraglio
+imply either gross sensualism or extreme ostentation; perhaps we may
+be justified in inclining to the more lenient view, if we take into
+consideration the faithful attachment which he exhibited towards Shirin.
+The cruelties which disgraced his later years are wholly without excuse;
+but in the act which deprived him of his throne, and brought him to a
+miserable end--his preference of Merdasas as his successor--he exhibited
+no worse fault than an amiable weakness, a partiality towards the son of
+a wife who possessed, and seems to have deserved, his affection.
+
+The coins of the second Chosroes are numerous in the extreme, and
+present several peculiarities. The ordinary type has, on the obverse,
+the king's head in profile, covered by a tiara, of which the chief
+ornament is a crescent and star between two outstretched wings. The
+head is surrounded by a double pearl bordering, outside of which, in the
+margin, are three crescents and stars. The legend is _Khusrui afzud_,
+with a monogram of doubtful meaning. The reverse shows the usual
+fire altar and supporters, in a rude form, enclosed by a triple pearl
+bordering. In the margin, outside the bordering, are four crescents and
+stars. The legend is merely the regnal year and a mint-mark. Thirty-four
+mint-marks have been ascribed to Chosroes II. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. 4.]
+
+A rarer and more curious type of coin, belonging to this monarch,
+presents on the obverse the front face of the king, surmounted by a
+mural crown, having the star and crescent between outstretched wings at
+top. The legend is _Khusrui mallean malka--afzud_. "Chosroes, king of
+kings--increase (be his)." The reverse has a head like that of a woman,
+also fronting the spectator, and wearing a band enriched with pearls
+across the forehead, above which the hair gradually converges to a
+point. [PLATE XXIV., Fig. 1.] A head very similar to this is found on
+Indo-Sassanian coins. Otherwise we might have supposed that the uxorious
+monarch had wished to circulate among his subjects the portrait of his
+beloved Shirin.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+_Accession of Siroe's, or Kobad II. His Letter to Heraclius. Peace made
+with Rome. Terms of the Peace. General Popularity of the new Reign.
+Dissatisfaction of Shahr-Barz. Kobad, by the advice of the Persian
+Lords, murders his Brothers. His Sisters reproach him with their Death.
+He falls into low spirits and dies. Pestilence in his Reign. His coins.
+Accession of Artaxerxes III. Revolt of Shahr-Barz. Reign of Shahr-Barz.
+His Murder. Reign of Purandocht. Rapid Succession of Pretenders.
+Accession of Isdigerd III._
+
+
+"Kobades, regno prefectus, justitiam prae se tulit, et injuriam qua
+oppressa fuerat amovit."--Eutychius, _Annales_, vol, ii. p. 253.
+
+
+Siroes, or Kobad the Second, as he is more properly termed, was
+proclaimed king on the 25th of February, 2 A.D. 628, four days before
+the murder of his father. According to the Oriental writers, he was very
+unwilling to put his father to death, and only gave a reluctant consent
+to his execution on the representations of his nobles that it was a
+state of necessity. His first care, after this urgent matter had been
+settled, was to make overtures of peace to Heraclius, who, having safely
+crossed the Zagros mountains, was wintering at Canzaca. The letter which
+he addressed to the Roman Emperor on the occasion is partially extant;
+but the formal and official tone which it breathes renders it a somewhat
+disappointing document. Kobad begins by addressing Heraclius as his
+brother, and giving him the epithet of "most clement," thus assuming his
+pacific disposition. He then declares, that, having been elevated to the
+throne by the especial favor of God, he has resolved to do his utmost to
+benefit and serve the entire human race. He has therefore commenced his
+reign by throwing open the prison doors, and restoring liberty to
+all who were detained in custody. With the same object in view, he is
+desirous of living in peace and friendship with the Roman emperor and
+state as well as with all other neighboring nations and kings. Assuming
+that his accession will be pleasing to the emperor, he has sent Phaeak,
+one of his privy councillors, to express the love and friendship that he
+feels towards his brother, and learn the terms upon which peace will be
+granted him. The reply of Heraclius is lost; but we are able to gather
+from a short summary which has been preserved, as well as from the
+subsequent course of events, that it was complimentary and favorable;
+that it expressed the willingness of the emperor to bring the war to
+a close, and suggested terms of accommodation that were moderate and
+equitable. The exact formulation of the treaty seems to have been left
+to Eustathius, who, after Heraclius had entertained Phaeak royally for
+nearly a week, accompanied the ambassador on his return to the Persian
+court.
+
+The general principle upon which peace was concluded was evidently the
+_status quo ante bellum_. Persia was to surrender Egypt, Palestine,
+Syria, Asia Minor, Western Mesopotamia, and any other conquests that she
+might have made from Rome, to recall her troops from them, and to give
+them back into the possession of the Romans. She was also to surrender
+all the captives whom she had carried off from the conquered countries;
+and, above all, she was to give back to the Romans the precious relic
+which had been taken from Jerusalem, and which was believed on all hands
+to be the veritable cross whereon Jesus Christ suffered death. As Rome
+had merely made inroads, but not conquests, she did not possess any
+territory to surrender; but she doubtless set her Persian prisoners
+free, and she made arrangements for the safe conduct and honorable
+treatment of the Persians, who evacuated Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor,
+on their way to the frontier. The evacuation was at once commenced; and
+the wood of the cross, which had been carefully preserved by the Persian
+queen, Shirin, was restored. In the next year, Heraclius made a grand
+pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and replaced the holy relic in the shrine from
+which it had been taken.
+
+It is said that princes are always popular on their coronation day.
+Kobad was certainly no exception to the general rule. His subjects
+rejoiced at the termination of a war which had always been a serious
+drain on the population, and which latterly had brought ruin and
+desolation upon the hearths and homes of thousands. The general emptying
+of the prisons was an act that cannot be called statesman-like; but it
+had a specious appearance of liberality, and was probably viewed with
+favor by the mass of the people. A still more popular measure must have
+been the complete remission of taxes with which Kobad inaugurated his
+reign--a remission which, according to one authority, was to have
+continued for three years, had the generous prince lived so long. In
+addition to these somewhat questionable proceedings, Kobad adopted
+also a more legitimate mode of securing the regard of his subjects by a
+careful administration of justice, and a mild treatment of those who had
+been the victims of his father's severities. He restored to their
+former rank the persons whom Chosroes had degraded or imprisoned, and
+compensated them for their injuries by a liberal donation of money.
+
+Thus far all seemed to promise well for the new reign, which, though it
+had commenced under unfavorable auspices, bid fair to be tranquil and
+prosperous. In one quarter only was there any indication of coming
+troubles. Shahr-Barz, the great general, whose life Chosroes
+had attempted shortly before his own death, appears to have been
+dissatisfied with the terms on which Kobad had concluded peace with
+Rome; and there is even reason to believe that he contrived to impede
+and delay the full execution of the treaty. He held under Kobad the
+government of the western provinces and was at the head of an army
+which numbered sixty thousand men. Kobad treated him with marked favor;
+but still he occupied a position almost beyond that of a subject, and
+one which could not fail to render him an object of fear and suspicion.
+For the present, however, though he may have nurtured ambitious
+thoughts, he made no movement, but bided his time, remaining quietly in
+his province, and cultivating friendly relations with the Roman emperor.
+
+Kobad had not been seated on the throne many months when he consented
+to a deed by which his character for justice and clemency was seriously
+compromised, if not wholly lost. This was the general massacre of all
+the other sons of Chosroes II., his own brothers or half-brothers--a
+numerous body, amounting to forty according to the highest estimate, and
+to fifteen according to the lowest. We are not told of any circumstances
+of peril to justify the deed, or even account for it. There have been
+Oriental dynasties, where such a wholesale murder upon the accession of
+a sovereign has been a portion of the established system of government,
+and others where the milder but little less revolting expedient has
+obtained of blinding all the brothers of the reigning prince; but
+neither practice was in vogue among the Sassanians; and we look vainly
+for the reason which caused an act of the kind to be resorted to at
+this conjuncture. Mirkhond says that Piruz, the chief minister of Kobad,
+advised the deed; but even he assigns no motive for the massacre, unless
+a motive is implied in the statement that the brothers of Kobad
+were "all of them distinguished by their talents and their merit."
+Politically speaking, the measure might have been harmless, had Kobad
+enjoyed a long reign, and left behind him a number of sons. But as it
+was, the rash act, by almost extinguishing the race of Sassan, produced
+troubles which greatly helped to bring the empire into a condition of
+hopeless exhaustion and weakness.
+
+While thus destroying all his brothers, Kobad allowed his sisters to
+live. Of these there were two, still unmarried, who resided in the
+palace, and had free access to the monarch. Their names were Purandocht
+and Azermidocht, Purandocht being the elder. Bitterly grieved at the
+loss of their kindred, these two princesses rushed into the royal
+presence, and reproached the king with words that cut him to the soul.
+"Thy ambition of ruling," they said, "has induced thee to kill thy
+father and thy brothers. Thou hast accomplished thy purpose within the
+space of three or four months. Thou hast hoped thereby to preserve thy
+power forever. Even, however, if thou shouldst live long, thou must die
+at last. May God deprive thee of the enjoyment of this royalty!" His
+sisters' words sank deep into the king's mind. He acknowledged their
+justice, burst into tears, and flung his crown on the ground. After this
+he fell into a profound melancholy, ceased to care for the exercise of
+power, and in a short time died. His death is ascribed by the Orientals
+to his mental sufferings; but the statement of a Christian bishop throws
+some doubt on this romantic story. Eutychius, Patriarch of Alexandria,
+tells us that, before Kobad had reigned many months, the plague broke
+out in his country. Vast numbers of his subjects died of it; and among
+the victims was the king himself, who perished after a reign which is
+variously estimated at six, seven, eight, and eighteen months.
+
+There seems to be no doubt that a terrible pestilence did afflict Persia
+at this period. The Arabian writers are here in agreement with Eutychius
+of Alexandria, and declare that the malady was of the most aggravated
+character, carrying off one half, or at any rate one third, of the
+inhabitants of the provinces which were affected, and diminishing the
+population of Persia by several hundreds of thousands. Scourges of this
+kind are of no rare occurrence in the East; and the return of a mixed
+multitude to Persia, under circumstances involving privation, from
+the cities of Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine, was well calculated to
+engender such a calamity.
+
+The reign of Kobad II. appears from his coins to have lasted above a
+year. He ascended the throne in February, A.D. 628; he probably died
+about July, A.D. 629. The coins which are attributed to him resemble in
+their principal features those of Ohosroes II. and Artaxerxes III., but
+are without wings, and have the legend _Kavat-Firuz_. The bordering
+of pearls is single on both obverse and reverse, but the king wears a
+double pearl necklace. The eye is large, and the hair more carefully
+marked than had been usual since the time of Sapor II. [PLATE XXIV.,
+Figs. 2 and 3].
+
+At the death of Kobad the crown fell to his son, Artaxerxes III., a
+child of seven, or (according to others) of one year only. The nobles
+who proclaimed him took care to place him under the direction of a
+governor or regent, and appointed to the office a certain Mihr-Hasis,
+who had been the chief purveyor of Kobad. Mihr-Hasis is said to have
+ruled with justice and discretion; but he was not able to prevent the
+occurrence of those troubles and disorders which in the East almost
+invariably accompany the sovereignty of a minor, and render the task
+of a regent a hard one. Shahr-Barz, who had scarcely condescended to
+comport himself as a subject under Kobad, saw in the accession of a
+boy, and in the near extinction of the race of Sassan, an opportunity
+of gratifying his ambition, and at the same time of avenging the wrong
+which had been done him by Chosroes. Before committing himself, however,
+to the perils of rebellion, he negotiated with Heraclius, and secured
+his alliance and support by the promise of certain advantages. The
+friends met at Heraclea on the Propontis. Shahr-Barz undertook to
+complete the evacuation of Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, which he had
+delayed hitherto, and promised, if he were successful in his enterprise,
+to pay Heraclius a large sum of money as compensation for the injuries
+inflicted on Rome during the recent war. Heraclius conferred on Nicetas,
+the son of Shahr-Barz, the title of "Patrican," consented to a marriage
+between Shahr-Barz's daughter, Nike, and his own son, Theodosius,
+and accepted Gregoria, the daughter of Nicetas, and grand-daughter of
+Shahr-Barz, as a wife for Constantine, the heir to the empire. He also,
+it is probable, supplied Shahr-Barz with a body of troops, to assist him
+in his struggle with Artaxerxes and Mihr-Hasis.
+
+Of the details of Sharhr-Barz's expedition we know nothing. He is said
+to have marched on Ctesiphon with an army of sixty thousand men; to have
+taken the city, put to death Artaxerxes, Mihr-Hasis, and a number of the
+nobles, and then seized the throne. We are not told what resistance
+was made by the monarch in possession, or how it was overcome, or even
+whether there was a battle. It would seem certain, however, that the
+contest was brief. The young king was of course powerless; Mihr-Hasis,
+though well-meaning, must have been weak; Shahr-Barz had all the rude
+strength of the animal whose name he bore, and had no scruples about
+using his strength to the utmost. The murder of a child of two, or at
+the most of eight, who could have done no ill, and was legitimately in
+possession of the throne, must be pronounced a brutal act, and one which
+sadly tarnishes the fair fame, previously unsullied, of one of Persia's
+greatest generals.
+
+It was easy to obtain the crown, under the circumstances of the
+time; but it was not so easy to keep what had been wrongfully gained.
+Shahr-Barz enjoyed the royal authority less than two months. During this
+period he completed the evacuation of the Roman provinces occupied by
+Chosroes II., restored perhaps some portions of the true cross which
+had been kept back by Kobad, and sent an expeditionary force against the
+Khazars who had invaded Armenia, which was completely destroyed by
+the fierce barbarians. He is said by the Armenians to have married
+Purandocht, the eldest daughter of Chosroes, for the purpose of
+strengthening his hold on the crown; but this attempt to conciliate his
+subjects, if it was really made, proved unsuccessful. Ere he had been
+king for two months, his troops mutinied, drew their swords upon him,
+and killed him in the open court before the palace. Having so done, they
+tied a cord to his feet and dragged his corpse through the streets of
+Ctesiphon, making proclamation everywhere as follows: "Whoever, not
+being of the blood-royal, seats himself upon the Persian throne, shall
+share the fate of Shahr-Barz." They then elevated to the royal dignity
+the princess Purandocht, the first female who had ever sat in the seat
+of Cyrus.
+
+The rule of a woman was ill calculated to restrain the turbulent Persian
+nobles. Two instances had now proved that a mere noble might ascend the
+throne of the son of Babek; and a fatal fascination was exercised on
+the grandees of the kingdom by the examples of Bahram-Chobin and
+Shahr-Barz.
+
+Pretenders sprang up in all quarters, generally asserting some
+connection, nearer or more remote, with the royal house, but relying
+on the arms of their partisans, and still more on the weakness of the
+government. It is uncertain whether Purandocht died a natural death; her
+sister, Azermidocht, who reigned soon after her, was certainly murdered.
+The crown passed rapidly from one noble to another, and in the course of
+the four or five years which immediately succeeded the death of Chosroes
+II. it was worn by nine or ten different persons. Of these the greater
+number reigned but a few days or a few months; no actions are ascribed
+to them; and it seems unnecessary to weary the reader with their obscure
+names, or with the still more obscure question concerning the order of
+their succession. It may be suspected that, in some cases two or more
+were contemporary, exercising royal functions in different portions
+of the empire at the same time. Of none does the history or the fate
+possess any interest; and the modern historical student may well be
+content with the general knowledge that for four years and a half after
+the death of Chosroes II. the government was in the highest degree
+unsettled; anarchy everywhere prevailed; the distracted kingdom was
+torn in pieces by the struggles of pretenders; and "every province, and
+almost each city of Persia, was the scene of independence, of discord,
+and of bloodshed."
+
+At length, in June, A.D. 632, an end was put to the internal commotions
+by the election of a young prince, believed to be of the true blood
+of Sassan, in whose rule the whole nation acquiesced without much
+difficulty. Yezdigerd (or Isdigerd) the Third was the son of Shahriar
+and the grandson of Chosroes II. He had been early banished from the
+Court, and had been brought up in obscurity, his royal birth being
+perhaps concealed, since if known it might have caused his destruction.
+The place of his residence was Istakr, the ancient capital of Persia,
+but at this time a city of no great importance. Here he had lived
+unnoticed to the age of fifteen, when his royal rank having somehow been
+discovered, and no other scion of the stock of Chosroes being known
+to exist, he was drawn forth from his retirement and invested with the
+sovereignty.
+
+But the appointment of a sovereign in whose rule all could acquiesce
+came too late. While Rome and Persia, engaged in deadly struggle, had no
+thought for anything but how most to injure each other, a power began
+to grow up in an adjacent country, which had for long ages been despised
+and thought incapable of doing any harm to its neighbors. Mohammed, half
+impostor, half enthusiast, enunciated a doctrine, and by degrees worked
+out a religion, which proved capable of uniting in one the scattered
+tribes of the Arabian desert, while at the same time it inspired them
+with a confidence, a contempt for death, and a fanatic valor, that
+rendered them irresistible by the surrounding nations. Mohammed's career
+as prophet began while Heraclius and Chosroes II. were flying at each
+other's throats; by the year of the death of Chosroes (A.D. 628) he had
+acquired a strength greater than that of any other Arab chief; two years
+later he challenged Rome to the combat by sending a hostile expedition
+into Syria; and before his death (A.D. 632) he was able to take the
+field at the head of 30,000 men. During the time of internal trouble in
+Persia he procured the submission of the Persian governor of the Yemen;
+as well as that of Al Mondar, or Alamundarus, King of Bahrein, on the
+west coast of the Persian Gulf. Isdigerd, upon his accession, found
+himself menaced by a power which had already stretched out one arm
+towards the lower Euphrates, while with the other it was seeking to
+grasp Syria and Palestine. The danger was imminent; the means of meeting
+it insufficient, for Persia was exhausted by foreign war and internal
+contention; the monarch himself was but ill able to cope with the Arab
+chiefs, being youthful and inexperienced; we shall find, however,
+that he made a strenuous resistance. Though continually defeated, he
+prolonged the fight for nearly a score of years, and only succumbed
+finally when, to the hostility of open foes, was added the treachery of
+pretended friends and allies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+
+_Death of Mohammed and Collapse of Mohammedanism. Recovery under
+Abu-bekr. Conquest of the Kingdom of Hira. Conquest of Obolla. Invasion
+of Mesopotamia. Battle of the Bridge--the Arabs suffer a Reverse. Battle
+of El Bow-eib--Mihran defeated by El Mothanna. Fresh Effort made by
+Persia--Battle of Cadesia--Defeat of the Persians. Pause in the War.
+March of Sa'ad on Ctesiphon. Flight of Isdigerd. Capture of Ctesiphon.
+Battle of Jalula. Conquest of Susiana and invasion of Persia Proper.
+Recall of Sa'ad. Isdigerd assembles an Army at Nehawend. Battle of
+Nehawend. Flight of Isdigerd. Conquest of the various Persian Provinces.
+Isdigerd murdered. Character of Isdigerd. Coins of Isdigerd._
+
+
+"Yazdejird, Persarum rex.... Rostamum misit oppugnatum Saadum... neque
+unquam belloram et dissentionum expers fuit, donee oecideretur. Regnavit
+autem annos viginti."--Eutychius, _Annales_, vol. ii. pp. 295-6.
+
+
+The power which Mohammed had so rapidly built up fell to pieces at his
+decease. Isdigerd can scarcely have been well settled upon this throne
+when the welcome tidings must have reached him that the Prophet was
+dead, that the Arabs generally were in revolt, that Al Mondar had
+renounced Islamism and resumed a position of independence. For the
+time Mohammedanism was struck down. It remained to be seen whether the
+movement had derived its strength solely from the genius of the Prophet,
+or whether minds of inferior calibre would suffice to renew and sustain
+the impulse which had proceeded from him, and which under him had proved
+of such wonderful force and efficacy.
+
+The companions of Mohammed lost no time in appointing his successor.
+Their choice fell upon Abu-bekr, his friend and father-in-law, who was a
+person of an energetic character, brave, chaste, and temperate. Abu-bekr
+proved himself quite equal to the difficulties of the situation. Being
+unfit for war himself, as he was above sixty years of age, he employed
+able generals, and within a few months of his accession struck such a
+series of blows that rebellion collapsed everywhere, and in a short
+time the whole Arab nation, except the tribe of Gassan, acknowledged
+themselves his subjects. Among the rivals against whom he measured
+himself, the most important was Moseilama. Moseilama, who affected the
+prophetic character, had a numerous following, and was able to fight a
+pitched battle with the forces of Abu-bekr, which numbered 40,000 men.
+At the first encounter he even succeeded in repulsing this considerable
+army, which lost 1200 warriors; but in a second engagement the
+Mohammedans were victorious--Moseilama was slain--and Kaled, "the Sword
+of God," carried back to Medina the news of his own triumph, and the
+spoils of the defeated enemy. Soon after the fall of Moseilama, the
+tribes still in rebellion submitted themselves, and the first of the
+Caliphs found himself at liberty to enter upon schemes of foreign
+conquest.
+
+Distracted between the temptations offered to his arms by the East and
+by the West, Abu-bekr in his first year (A.D. 633) sent expeditions
+in both directions, against Syria, and against Hira, where Iyas, the
+Persian feudatory, who had succeeded Noman, son of Al Mondar, held
+his court, on the western branch of the Euphrates. For this latter
+expedition the commander selected was the irresistible Kaled, who
+marched a body of 2000 men across the desert to the branch stream,s
+which he reached in about latitude 30 deg.. Assisted by Al Mothanna, chief
+of the Beni Sheiban, who had been a subject of Iyas, but had revolted
+and placed himself under the protection of Abu-bekr, Kaled rapidly
+reduced the kingdom of Hira, took successively Banikiya, Barasuilia,
+and El Lis, descended the river to the capital, and there fought an
+important battle with the combined Persian and Arab forces, the first
+trial of arms between the followers of Mohammed and those of Zoroaster.
+The Persian force consisted entirely of horse, and was commanded by
+a general whom the Arab writers call Asadsubeh. Their number is not
+mentioned, but was probably small. Charged furiously by Al Mothanna,
+they immediately broke and fled; Hira was left with no other protection
+than its walls; and Iyas, yielding to necessity, made his submission to
+the conqueror, and consented to pay a tribute of 290,000 dirhems.
+
+The splendid success of his pioneer induced Abu-bekr to support the war
+in this quarter with vigor. Reinforcements joined Kaled from every side,
+and in a short time he found himself at the head of an army of 18,000
+men. With this force he proceeded southwards bent on reducing the entire
+tract between the desert and the Eastern or real Euphrates. The most
+important city of the southern region was at the time Obolla which was
+situated on a canal or backwater derived from the Euphrates, not far
+from the modern Busrah. It was the great emporium for the Indian trade,
+and was known as the _limes Indorum_ or "frontier city towards India."
+The Persian governor was a certain Hormuz or Hormisdas who held the
+post with 20,000 men. Kaled fought his second great battle with this
+antagonist, and was once more completely victorious, killing Hormuz,
+according to the Arabian accounts, with his own hands. Obolla
+surrendered; a vast booty was taken; and, after liberally rewarding
+his soldiers Kaled sent the fifth part of the spoils, together with a
+captured elephant, to Abu-bekr at Medina. The strange animal astonished
+the simple natives, who asked one another wonderingly "Is this indeed
+one of God's works, or did human art make it."
+
+The victories of Kaled Over Asadsubeh and Hormuz were followed by a
+number of other successes, the entire result being that the whole of
+the fertile region on the right bank of the Euphrates from Hit to the
+Persian Gulf, was for the time reduced, made a portion of Ahu-bekr's
+dominions, and parcelled out among Mohammedan governors. Persia was
+deprived of the protection which a dependent Arab kingdom to the west of
+the river had hitherto afforded her, and was brought into direct contact
+with the great Mohammedan monarchy along almost the whole of her western
+frontier. Henceforth she was open to attack on this side for a distance
+of above four hundred miles, with no better barrier than a couple of
+rivers interposed between her enemy and her capital.
+
+Soon after his conquest of the kingdom of Hira, Kaled was recalled
+from the Euphrates to the Syrian war, and was employed in the siege of
+Damascus, while Persia enjoyed a breathing-space. Advantage was taken of
+this interval to stir up disaffection in the newly-conquered province.
+Rustam appointed to the command against the Arabs by Isdigerd sent
+emissaries to the various towns of the Sawad, urging them to rise in
+revolt and promising to support such a movement with a Persian army. The
+situation was critical; and if the Mohammedans had been less tenacious,
+or the Persians more skilfully handled, the whole of the Sawad might
+have been recovered. But Rustam allowed his troops to be defeated in
+detail. Al Mothanna and Abu Obediah, in three separate engagements, at
+Namarik, Sakatiya, and Barusma, overcame the Persian leaders, Jaban,
+Narses, and Jalenus, and drove their shattered armies back on the
+Tigris. The Mohammedan authority was completely re-established in the
+tract between the desert and the Euphrates; it was even extended across
+the Euphrates into the tract watered by the Shat-el-Hie; and it soon
+became a question whether Persia would be able to hold the Mesopotamian
+region, or whether the irrepressible Arabs would not very shortly
+wrest it from her grasp. But at this point in the history the Arabs
+experienced a severe reverse. On learning the defeat of his lieutenants,
+Rustam sent an army to watch the enemy, under the command of
+Bahman-Dsul-hadjib, or "Bahman the beetle-browed," which encamped upon
+the Western Euphrates at Kossen-natek, not far from the site of Kufa.
+At the same time, to raise the courage of the soldiers, he entrusted to
+this leader the sacred standard of Persia, the famous _durufsh-kawani_,
+or leathern apron of the blacksmith Kawah, which was richly adorned
+with silk and gems, and is said to have measured, eighteen feet long
+by twelve feet broad. Bahman had with him, according to the Persian
+tradition, 30,000 men and thirty elephants; the Arabs under Abu Obediah
+numbered no more than 9000, or at the most 10,000. Bahman is reported
+to have given his adversary the alternative of passing the Euphrates
+or allowing the Persians to cross it. Abu Obediah preferred the bolder
+course, and, in spite of the dissuasions of his chief officers, threw
+a bridge of boats across the stream, and so conveyed his troops to the
+left bank. Here he found the Persian horse-archers covered with their
+scale armor, and drawn up in a solid line behind their elephants. Galled
+severely by the successive flights of arrows, the Arab cavalry sought
+to come to close quarters; but their horses, terrified by the unwonted
+sight of the huge animals, and further alarmed by the tinkling of the
+bells hung round their necks, refused to advance. It was found necessary
+to dismount, and assail the Persian line on foot. A considerable
+impression had been made, and it was thought that the Persians would
+take to flight, when Abu Obediah, in attacking the most conspicuous of
+the elephants, was seized by the infuriated animal and trampled under
+his feet. Inspirited by this success, the Persians rushed upon their
+enemies, who, disheartened by the loss of their commander, began a
+retrograde movement, falling back upon their newly-made bridge. This,
+however, was found to have been broken, either by the enemy, or by a
+rash Arab who thought, by making retreat impossible, to give his own
+side the courage of despair. Before the damage done could be repaired,
+the retreating host suffered severely. The Persians pressed closely
+upon them, slew many, and drove others into the stream, where they were
+drowned. Out of the 9000 or 10,000 who originally passed the river,
+only 5000 returned, and of these 2000 at once dispersed to their homes.
+Besides Abu Obediah, the veteran Salit was slain; and Al Mothanna, who
+succeeded to the command on Abu Obediah's death, was severely wounded.
+The last remnant of the defeated army might easily have been destroyed,
+had not a dissension arisen among the Persians, which induced Bahman to
+return to Otesiphon.
+
+The Arabs, upon this repulse, retired to El Lis; and Al Mothanna sent
+to Omar for reinforcements, which speedily arrived under the command
+of Jarir, son of Abdallah. Al Mothanna was preparing to resume the
+offensive when the Persians anticipated him. A body of picked troops,
+led by Mihran a general of reputation, crossed the Euphrates, and made a
+dash at Hira. Hastily collecting his men, who were widely dispersed, Al
+Mothanna gave the assailants battle on the canal El Boweib, in the near
+vicinity of the threatened town, and though the Persians fought with
+desperation from noon to sunset, succeeded in defeating them and in
+killing their commander. The beaten army recrossed the Euphrates, and
+returned to Otesiphon without suffering further losses, since the Arabs
+were content to have baffled their attack, and did not pursue them many
+miles from the field of battle. All Mesopotamia, however, was by this
+defeat laid open to the invaders, whose ravages soon extended to the
+Tigris and the near vicinity of the capital.
+
+The year A.D. 636 now arrived, and the Persians resolved upon an
+extraordinary effort. An army of 120,000 men was enrolled, and Rustam,
+reckoned the best general of the day, was placed at its head. The
+Euphrates was once more crossed, the Sawad entered, its inhabitants
+invited to revolt, and the Arab force, which had been concentrated at
+Cadesia (Kadisiyeh), where it rested upon a fortified town, was sought
+out and challenged to the combat. The Caliph Omar had by great efforts
+contrived to raise his troops in the Sawad to the number of 30,000, and
+had entrusted the command of them to Sa'ad, the son of Wakas, since Al
+Mothanna had died of his wound. Sa'ad stood wholly on the defensive. His
+camp was pitched outside the walls of Cadesia, in a position protected
+on either side by a canal, or branch stream, derived from the Euphrates,
+and flowing to the south-east out of the Sea of Nedjef. He himself,
+prevented by boils from sitting on his horse, looked down on his troops,
+and sent them directions from the Oadesian citadel. Rustam, in order
+to come to blows, was obliged to fill up the more eastern of the branch
+streams (El Atik), with reeds and earth, and in this way to cross the
+channel. The Arabs made no attempt to hinder the operation; and the
+Persian general, having brought his vast army directly opposite to
+the enemy, proceeded to array his troops as he thought most expedient.
+Dividing his army into a centre and two wings, he took himself the
+position of honor in, the mid-line with nineteen elephants and three
+fifths of his forces, while he gave the command of the right wing to
+Jalenus, and of the left to Bendsuwan; each of whom we may suppose to
+have had 24,000 troops and seven elephants. The Arabs, on their side,
+made no such division. Kaled, son of Orfuta, was the sole leader in the
+fight, though Sa'ad from his watch-tower observed the battle and gave
+his orders. The engagement began at mid-day and continued till sunset.
+At the signal of _Allah akbar_, "God is great," shouted by Sa'ad from
+his tower, the Arabs rushed to the attack. Their cavalry charged; but
+the Persians advanced against them their line of elephants, repeating
+with excellent effect the tactics of the famous "Battle of the Bridge."
+The Arab horse fled; the foot alone remained firm; victory seemed
+inclining to the Persians, who were especially successful on either
+wing; Toleicha, with his "lions" failed to re-establish the balance; and
+all would have been lost, had not Assem, at the command of Sa'ad, sent a
+body of archers and other footmen to close with the elephants, gall them
+with missiles, cut their girths, and so precipitate their riders to the
+ground. Relieved from this danger, the Arab horse succeeded in repulsing
+the Persians, who as evening approached retired in good order to their
+camp. The chief loss on this, the "day of concussion," was suffered
+by the Arabs, who admit that they had 500 killed, and must have had a
+proportional number of wounded.
+
+On the morning of the second day the site of the battle was somewhat
+changed, the Persians having retired a little during the night.
+Reinforcements from Syria kept reaching the Arab camp through most
+of the day; and hence it is known to the Arab writers as the "day of
+succors." The engagement seems for some time not to have been general,
+the Arabs waiting for more troops to reach them, while the Persians
+abstained because they had not yet repaired the furniture of their
+elephants. Thus the morning passed in light skirmishes and single
+combats between the champions of either host, who went out singly before
+the lines and challenged each other to the encounter. The result of the
+duels was adverse to the Persians, who lost in the course of them two of
+their best generals, Bendsuwan and Bahman-Dsulhadjib. After a time the
+Arabs, regarding themselves as sufficiently reinforced, attacked the
+Persians along their whole line, partly with horse, and partly with
+camels, dressed up to resemble elephants. The effect on the Persian
+cavalry was the same as had on the preceding day been produced by the
+real elephants on the horse of the Arabs; it was driven off the field
+and dispersed, suffering considerable losses. But the infantry stood
+firm, and after a while the cavalry rallied; Rustam, who had been in
+danger of suffering capture, was saved; and night closing in, defeat was
+avoided, though the advantage of the day rested clearly with the Arabs.
+The Persians had lost 10,000 in killed and wounded, the Arabs no more
+than 2000.
+
+In the night which followed "the day of succors" great efforts were made
+by the Persians to re-equip their elephants, and when morning dawned
+they were enabled once more to bring the unwieldy beasts into line. But
+the Arabs and their horses had now grown more familiar with the strange
+animals; they no longer shrank from meeting them; and some Persian
+deserters gave the useful information that, in order to disable the
+brutes it was only necessary to wound them on the proboscis or in the
+eye. Thus instructed, the Arabs made the elephants the main object of
+their attack, and, having wounded the two which were accustomed to lead
+the rest, caused the whole body on a sudden to take to flight, cross the
+canal El Atik, and proceed at full speed to Ctesiphon. The armies then
+came to close quarters; and the foot and horse contended through the
+day with swords and spears, neither side being able to make any serious
+impression upon the other. As night closed in, however, the Persians
+once more fell back, crossing the canal El Atik, and so placing that
+barrier between themselves and their adversaries.
+
+Their object in this manoeuvre was probably to obtain the rest which
+they must have greatly needed. The Persians were altogether of a frame
+less robust, and of a constitution less hardy, than the Arabs. Their
+army at Kadisiyeh was, moreover, composed to a large extent of raw
+recruits; and three consecutive days of severe fighting must have sorely
+tried its endurance. The Persian generals hoped, it would seem, by
+crossing the Atik to refresh their troops with a quiet night before
+renewing the combat on the morrow. But the indefatigable Arabs, perhaps
+guessing their intention, determined to frustrate it, and prevented
+the tired host from enjoying a moment's respite. The "day of embittered
+war," as it was called, was followed by the "night of snarling"--a time
+of horrid noise and tumult, during which the discordant cries of the
+troops on either side were thought to resemble the yells and barks of
+dogs and jackals. Two of the bravest of the Arabs, Toleicha and Amr,
+crossed the Atik with small bodies of troops, and under cover of the
+darkness entered the Persian camp, slew numbers, and caused the greatest
+confusion. By degrees a general engagement was brought on, which
+continued into the succeeding day, so that the "night of snarling" can
+scarcely be separated from the "day of cormorants"--the last of the four
+days' Kadisiyeh fight.
+
+It would seem that the Persians must on the fourth day have had for a
+time the advantage, since we find them once more fighting upon the old
+ground, in the tract between the two canals, with the Atik in their
+rear. About noon, however, a wind arose from the west, bringing with
+it clouds of sand, which were blown into the faces and eyes of the
+Persians, while the Arabs, having their backs to the storm, suffered but
+little from its fury. Under these circumstances the Moslems made fresh
+efforts, and after a while a part of the Persian army was forced to
+give ground. Hormuzan, satrap of Susiana, and Firuzan, the general who
+afterwards commanded at Nehavend, fell back. The line of battle was
+dislocated; the person of the commander became exposed to danger; and
+about the same time a sudden violent gust tore away the awning that
+shaded his seat, and blew it into the Atik, which was not far off.
+Rustam sought a refuge from the violence of the storm among his baggage
+mules, and was probably meditating flight, when the Arabs were upon him.
+Hillal, son of Alkama, intent upon plunder, began to cut the cords of
+the baggage and strew it upon the ground. A bag falling severely injured
+Rustam, who threw himself into the Atik and attempted to swim across.
+Hillal, however, rushed after him, drew him to shore, and slew him;
+after which he mounted the vacant throne, and shouted as loudly as
+he could, "By the lord of the Kaaba, I have killed Rustam." The words
+created a general panic. Everywhere the Persian courage fell; the most
+part despaired wholly, and at once took to flight; a few cohorts alone
+stood firm and were cut to pieces; the greater number of the men rushed
+hastily to the Atik; some swam the stream others crossed where it
+had been filled up; but as many as 30,000 perished in the waves.
+Ten thousand had fallen on the field of battle in the course of the
+preceding night and day, while of the Mohammedans as many as 6000
+had been slain. Thus the last day of the Kadisiyeh fight was stoutly
+contested; and the Persian defeat was occasioned by no deficiency
+of courage, but by the occurrence of a sand-storm and by the almost
+accidental death of the commander. Among the Persian losses in the
+battle that of the national standard, the _durufsh-kawani_ was reckoned
+the most serious.
+
+The retreat of the defeated army was conducted by Jalenus. Sa'ad,
+anxious to complete his victory, sent three bodies of troops across the
+Atik, to press upon the flying foe. One of these, commanded by Sohra,
+came up with the Persian rear-guard under Jalenus at Harrar, and
+slaughtered it, together with its leader. The other two seem to have
+returned without effecting much. The bulk of the fugitives traversed
+Mesopotamia in safety, and found a shelter behind the walls of
+Ctesiphon.
+
+By the defeat of Kadisiyeh all hope of recovering the territory on the
+right bank of the Euphrates was lost; but Persia did not as yet despair
+of maintaining her independence. It was evident, indeed, that the
+permanent maintenance of the capital was henceforth precarious; and a
+wise forethought would have suggested the removal of the Court from so
+exposed a situation and its transference to some other position, either
+to Istakr, the ancient metropolis of Persia Proper, or to Hamadan, the
+capital city of Media. But probably it was considered that to retire
+voluntarily from the Tigris would be a confession of weakness, as fatal
+to the stability of the empire as to be driven back by the Arabs; and
+perhaps it may have been hoped that the restless nomads would be content
+with their existing conquests, or that they might receive a check at the
+hands of Rome which would put a stop to their aggressions elsewhere.
+It is remarkable that, during the pause of a year and a half which
+intervened between the battle of Kadisiyeh and the resumption of
+hostilities by the Arabs, nothing seems to have been done by Persia in
+the way of preparation against her terrible assailants.
+
+In the year A.D. 637 the Arabs again took the offensive. They had
+employed the intervening year and a half in the foundation of Busrah and
+Kufam and in the general consolidation of their sway on the right bank
+of the Euphrates. They were now prepared for a further movement. The
+conduct of the war was once more entrusted to Sa'ad. Having collected
+an army of 20,000 men, this general proceeded from Kufa to Anbar
+(or Perisabor), where he crossed the Euphrates, and entered on the
+Mesopotamian region. Isdigerd. learning that he had put his forces in
+motion, and was bent upon attacking Ctesiphon, called a council of
+war, and asked its advice as to the best course to be pursued under
+the circumstances. It was generally agreed that the capital must be
+evacuated, and a stronger situation in the more mountainous part of the
+country occupied; but Isdigerd was so unwilling to remove that he waited
+till the Arabian general, with a force now raised to 60,000, had reached
+Sabat, which was only a day's march from the capital, before he could
+be induced to commence his retreat. He then abandoned the town hastily,
+without carrying off more than a small portion of the treasures which
+his ancestors had during four centuries accumulated at the main seat
+of their power, and retired to Holwan, a strong place in the Zagros
+mountain-range. Sa'ad, on learning his movement, sent a body of troops
+in pursuit, which came up with the rear-guard of the Persians, and cut
+it in pieces, but effected nothing really important. Isdigerd made good
+his retreat, and in a short time concentrated at Holwan an army of above
+100,000 men. Sa'ad, instead of pushing forward and engaging this force,
+was irresistibly attracted by the reputed wealth of the Great Ctesiphon,
+and, marching thither, entered the unresisting city, with his troops, in
+the sixteenth year of the Hegira, the four hundred and eleventh from the
+foundation of the Sassanian kingdom by Artaxerxes, son of Babek.
+
+Ctesiphon was, undoubtedly, a rich prize. Its palaces and its gardens,
+its opulent houses and its pleasant fields, its fountains and its
+flowers, are celebrated by the Arabian writers, who are never weary of
+rehearsing the beauty of its site, the elegance of the buildings,
+the magnificence and luxury of their furniture, or the amount of the
+treasures which were contained in them. The royal palace, now known as
+the Takht-i-Khosru, especially provoked their admiration. It was built
+of polished stone, and had in front of it a portico of twelve marble
+pillars, each 150 feet high. The length of the edifice was 450 feet, its
+breadth 180, its height 150. In the centre was the hall of audience, a
+noble apartment, 115 feet long and 85 high, with a magnificent vaulted
+roof, bedecked with golden stars, so arranged as to represent the
+motions of the planets among the twelve signs of the Zodiac, where the
+monarch was accustomed to sit on a golden throne, hearing causes
+and dispensing justice to his subjects. The treasury and the various
+apartments were full of gold and silver, of costly robes and precious
+stones, of jewelled arms and dainty carpets. The glass vases of the
+spice magazine contained an abundance of musk, camphor, amber, gums,
+drugs, and delicious perfumes. In one apartment was found a carpet
+of white brocade, 450 feet long and 90 broad, with a border worked in
+precious stones of various hues, to represent a garden of all kinds of
+beautiful flowers. The leaves were formed of emeralds, the blossoms
+and buds of pearls, rubies, sapphires, and other gems of immense value.
+Among the objects found in the treasury were a horse made entirely of
+gold, bearing a silver saddle set with a countless multitude of jewels,
+and a camel made of silver, accompanied by a foal of which the material
+was gold. A coffer belonging to Isdigerd was captured at the bridge over
+the Nahrwan canal as its guardians were endeavoring to carry it off.
+Among its contents were a robe of state embroidered with rubies and
+pearls, several garments made of tissue of gold, the crown and seal of
+Chosroes (Anushirwan?), and ten pieces of silk brocade. The armory of
+Chosroes also fell into the conqueror's hands. It contained his helmet,
+breastplate, greaves, and arm-pieces, all of solid gold adorned with
+pearls, six "cuirasses of Solomon," and ten costly scimitars. The works
+of art, and a fifth part of the entire booty, were set apart for the
+Caliph Omar, and sent by trusty messengers to Medina; the value of the
+remainder was so enormous that when Sa'ad divided it among his 60,000
+soldiers the share of each amounted to 12,000 dirhems (L312.).
+
+It is said that Sa'ad, after capturing Ctesiphon, was anxious to set out
+in pursuit of Isdigerd, but was restrained by dispatches received from
+Omar, which commanded him to remain at the Persian capital, and to
+employ his brother Hashem, and the experienced general, El Kakaa, in the
+further prosecution of the war. Hashem was, therefore, sent with 12,000
+men, against the fugitive monarch, whose forces, said to have exceeded
+100,000 men, and commanded by a Mihran, were drawn up at Jalula, not
+far from Holwan. The disparity of numbers forced Hashem to condescend
+to maneuvering; and it was six months before he ventured on a general
+engagement with his antagonist. Again the Mohammedans proved victorious;
+and this time the carnage was excessive; 100,000 Persians are said to
+have lain dead on the battle-field; the commander was himself among the
+slain. Jalula at once surrendered; and fresh treasures were obtained.
+Among other precious articles, a figure of a camel, with its rider,
+in solid gold, was found in one of the tents. Altogether the booty is
+reckoned at about four millions of our money--the share of each soldier
+engaged being 10,000 dirhems, or about L260. sterling.
+
+Isdigerd, on learning the result of the battle of Jalula, quitted
+Holwan, and retired to Rei, a large town near the Caspian sea, at a
+short distance from the modern Teheran, thus placing the entire Zagros
+range between himself and his irresistible foes. A general named
+Khosru-sum was left behind with a large body of troops, and was bidden
+to defend Holwan to the last extremity. Instead of remaining, however,
+within the walls of the stronghold, Khosru-sum rashly led his force to
+meet that of El Kakaa, who defeated him at Kasr-i-Shirin and entirely
+dispersed his army. Holwan, being left without protection, surrendered;
+the conquest of Shirwan, Mahsabadan, and Tekrit followed; and by the
+close of the year A.D. 637 the banner of the Prophet waved over the
+whole tract west of Zagros, from Nineveh almost to Susa, or from the
+Kurnib to the Kuran river.
+
+Another short pause in the Arabian aggressions upon Persia now occurred;
+but in the year A.D. 639 their attacks were resumed, and the Persians
+had to submit to further losses. Otba, governor of Busrah, sent an
+expedition across the Shat-el-Arab into. Susiana, and, supported by
+the Arab population of the province, which deserted the Persian side,
+engaged Horrmuzan, the satrap, in two battles, defeated him, and forced
+him to cede a portion of his territory, including the important city of
+Ahwaz. Soon afterwards, Ala, governor of Bahrein, conducted in person an
+expedition into Persia Proper, crossing the Gulf in the rude vessels of
+the time, and attacking Shehrek, the Persian satrap, who acknowledged
+the authority of Isdigerd. Here, the Arabs were for once unsuccessful.
+Shehrek collected a force which Ala was afraid to encounter; the Arab
+chief retreated to the coast, but found his fleet engulfed by the waves;
+and it was only with great difficulty that he made his escape by land
+from the country which he had ventured to invade. He owed his escape
+to Otba, who sent troops from Busrah to his aid, defeated Shehrek, and
+rescued his fellow governor from the peril which threatened, him.
+
+In the next year (A.D. 640) Hormuzan, incited by Isdigerd, made a
+desperate attempt to recover the territory which he had been compelled
+to cede. Assisted by Shehrek, governor of Persia Proper, he attacked the
+Arabs unawares, but was speedily met, driven from Ram-Hormuz to Shuster,
+and there besieged for the space of six months. As many as eighty
+engagements are said to have taken place before the walls, with no
+decided advantage to either side. At length Al-Bera, son of Malik, one
+of the companions of the Prophet, and believed by many to possess the
+prophetic spirit, announced that victory was about to incline to the
+Moslems, but that he himself would be slain. A chance arrow having
+fulfilled one-half of the prediction, the Arabs felt an assurance that
+the other half would follow, and fought with such fanatic ardor that
+their expectations were soon fulfilled. The town was won; but Hormuzan
+retired into the citadel, and there successfully maintained himself,
+till Abu-Sabra, the Mohammedan general, consented to spare his life, and
+send him to Medina, where his fate should be determined by the Caliph.
+Hormuzan, on obtaining an audience, pretended thirst and asked for a cup
+of water, which was given him: he then looked suspiciously around, as
+if he expected to be stabbed while drinking. "Fear nothing," said Omar;
+"your life is safe till you have drunk the water." The crafty Persian
+flung the cup to the ground, and Omar felt that he had been outwitted,
+but that he must keep his word. Hormuzan became an Arab pensionary, and
+shortly afterwards embraced Islamism. His territories were occupied by
+the Moslems, whose dominions were thereby extended from the Kuran to the
+Tab river.
+
+The Arab conquests on the side of Persia had hitherto been effected
+and maintained by the presiding genius of one of the ablest of the
+Mohammedan commanders, the victor of Kadi-siyeh, Sa'ad Ibn Abi Wakas.
+From Kufa, where he built himself a magnificent palace, which Omar
+however caused to be destroyed, this great general and skilful
+administrator directed the movements of armies, arranged the divisions
+of provinces, apportioned the sums to be paid to the revenue, dealt
+out justice, and generally superintended affairs throughout the entire
+region conquered by the Arabs to the east of the desert. A man in such
+a position necessarily made himself enemies; and complaints were
+frequently carried to Omar of his lieutenant's pride, luxury, and
+injustice. What foundation there may have been for these charges is
+uncertain; but it seems that Omar was persuaded, towards the close of
+A.D. 640, or very early in A.D. 641, that they were of sufficient weight
+to make it necessary that they should be investigated. He accordingly
+recalled Sa'ad from his government to Medina, and replaced him at Kufa
+by Ammar Ibn Yaser.
+
+The news of this change was carried to Isdigerd at Rei, and caused him
+to conceive hopes of recovering his lost territory. The event shows that
+he attributed too much to the personal ability of his great antagonist;
+but the mistake was not unnatural; and it was a noble impulse which
+led him to seize the first promising occasion, in order to renew the
+struggle and make a last desperate effort to save his empire and repulse
+the barbarous nomads. The facts are not as the Arabian historians
+represent them. There was no intention on the part of the Mohammedans to
+be content with the conquests which they made, or to remain within the
+boundary line of the mountains that separate the Mesopotaraian region
+from the high plateau of Iran. Mohammedanism had an insatiable ambition,
+and was certain to spread itself in all directions until its forces
+were expended, or a bound was set to it by resistance which it could not
+overcome. Isdigerd, by remaining quiet, might perhaps have prolonged the
+precarious existence of Persia for half a dozen years, though even this
+is uncertain, and it is perhaps as probable that the tide of conquest
+would have flowed eastward in A.D. 641 or 642, even had he attempted
+nothing. What alone we can be sure of his, that no acquiescence on his
+part, no abstention from warlike enterprise, no submission short of the
+acceptance of Islamism, would have availed to save his country for more
+than a very brief space from the tramp of the hordes that were bent on
+enriching themselves with the plunder of the whole civilized world,
+and imposing on all the nations of the earth their dominion and their
+religion.
+
+From the citadel of Rei, Isdigerd, in A.D. 641, sounded the call to
+battle with no uncertain note. His envoys spread themselves through
+Media, Azerbijan, Khorassan, Gurgan, Tabaristan, Merv, Bactria, Seistan,
+Kerman, and Farsistan (or Persia Proper), demanding contingents of
+troops, and appointing, as the place of rendezvous, the small town of
+Nehavend, which is in the mountain region, about fifty miles south of
+Hamadan. The call was responded to with zeal; and in a short time
+there was gathered together at the place named an army of 150,000 men.
+Firuzan, one of the nobles who had commanded at Kadisiyeh, was made
+general-in-chief. The design was entertained of descending on Holwan,
+and thence upon the lowland region, of re-taking Ctesiphon, crossing the
+great rivers, and destroying the rising cities of Kufa and Busrah. But
+the Arabs were upon the alert, and anticipated the intended invasion.
+Noman, son of Mokarrin, who commanded at Ahwaz, was hastily commissioned
+by Omar to collect the Arab troops stationed in Irak, Khuzistan, and
+the Sawad, to put himself at their head, and to prevent the outbreak by
+marching at once on Nehavend. He succeeded in uniting under his standard
+about 30,000 soldiers, and with this moderate force entered the mountain
+tract, passed Holwan and Merj, and encamped at Tur, where he expected
+the attack of the enemy. But Firuzan had now resolved to maintain the
+defensive. He had entrenched himself strongly in front of Nehavend
+and was bent on wearing out the patience of the Arabs by a prolonged
+resistance. Noman, finding himself unmolested, advanced from Tur to
+the immediate neighborhood of Nehavend, and endeavored to provoke his
+adversary to give battle, but without effect. For two months the two
+hosts faced each other without fighting. At last, the stores of the
+Arabs, as well as their patience, began to fail; and it was necessary to
+employ some device, or to give up the war altogether. Hereupon, Noman,
+by the advice of two of his captains, had recourse to a stratagem. He
+spread a report that Omar was dead, and breaking up from from his
+camp began a hasty retreat. The plan succeeded. Firuzan quitted his
+entrenchments, and led his army on the traces of the flying foe. It was
+two days before he reached them, and on the third day the battle began.
+Noman, having addressed his soldiers and made arrangements concerning
+the command in case of his own death, mounted a milk-white steed, and
+gave the signal for the fight by thrice shouting the famous tehbir,
+or battle-cry, "_Allah akbar_." The Arabs charged with fury, and for a
+while, amid the clouds of dust which rose beneath their feet, nothing
+was heard but the clash of steel. At length the Persians gave way; but,
+as Noman advanced his standard and led the pursuit, a volley of
+arrows from the flying foe checked his movement, and at the same time
+terminated his career. A shaft had struck him in a vital part, and he
+fell at the moment of victory. For his men, maddened by the loss of
+their commander, pressed on more furiously than before; the Persians
+were unable to rally; and a promiscuous flight began. Then followed a
+dreadful slaughter. The numbers of the Persians must have impeded
+their retreat; and in the defiles of the mountains a rapid flight was
+impossible. Firuzan himself, who, instead of falling back on Nehavend,
+took the road leading north to Hamadan, was overtaken by El Kakaa in a
+narrow pass, and put to the sword. More than 100,000 Persians are
+said to have perished.128 The victors, pressing onwards, easily took
+Nehavend. Hamadan surrendered to them shortly afterwards.120
+
+The defeat of Nehavend terminated the Sassanian power. Isdigerd indeed,
+escaping from Rei, and flying continually from place to place, prolonged
+an inglorious existence for the space of ten more years--from A.D. 641
+to A.D. 651; but he had no longer a kingdom. Persia fell to pieces on
+the occasion of "the victory of victories," and made no other united
+effort against the Arabs. Province after province was occupied by the
+fierce invaders; and, at length, in A.D. 651, their arms penetrated
+to Merv, where the last scion of the house of Babek had for some years
+found a refuge. It is said that during this interval he had made efforts
+to engage the Khan of the Turks and the Emperor of the Chinese to
+embrace his cause; but, if this were so, it was without success. Though
+they may have lent him some encouragement, no real effort was made by
+either potentate on his behalf. Isdigerd, at Merv, during his later
+years, experienced the usual fate of sovereigns who have lost their
+kingdoms. He was alternately flattered and coerced by pretended friends
+among his own people--induced to cherish vain hopes, and driven to
+despair, by the fluctuating counsels of the monarchs of neighboring
+nations. At last he was murdered by a subject for the sake of his
+clothes, when he was flying from a combined attack of treacherous
+subjects and offended foreigners.
+
+It is difficult to form a decided opinion as to the character of
+Isdigerd III. He was but fifteen years of age at his accession,
+twenty-four at the time of the battle of Nehavend, and thirty-four at
+his decease, A.D. 651. It is in his favor that "history lays no crimes
+to his charge;" for this can be said of very few Sassanian sovereigns.
+It is also to his credit that he persevered so long in struggling
+against his fate, and in endeavoring to maintain, or restore, the
+independence of his nation. But, on the other hand, it must be confessed
+that there is little to be admired in the measures which he took to meet
+the perils of the time, and that personally he appears to have been weak
+and of luxurious habits. During the whole of his long struggle with
+the Arabs he seems never once to have placed himself at the head of his
+troops, much less to have crossed swords with the enemy. He intrusted
+the defence of Persia to generals, and did not even seek to inspire
+his soldiers with enthusiasm by his own presence in their camp. Always
+occupying some secure fortress far in the rear of his army, he fled from
+each as the enemy made a step in advance, quitting Ctesiphon for Holwan,
+Holwan for Rei, and Rei for Merv, never venturing upon a stand, never
+making an appeal to the loyalty which was amongst the best qualities of
+the Persians, and which would have caused them to fight with desperation
+in defence of a present king. Carrying with him in all his wanderings
+the miserable pageant of an Oriental court, he suffered his movements
+to be hampered and his resources crippled by a throng of 4000 useless
+retainers, whom he could not bring himself to dismiss. Instead of
+donning the armor which befitted one who was struggling for his crown,
+he wore to the last the silken robes, the jewelled belt, the rings and
+bracelets that were only suited for the quiet inmate of a palace, and by
+this incongruous and misplaced splendor he provoked, and, perhaps we may
+say, deserved his fate. A monarch who loses his crown for the most
+part awakens interest and sympathy; but no historian has a word of
+commiseration for the last of the Sassanidae, who is reproached with
+feebleness, cowardice, and effeminacy. It must certainly be allowed that
+he was no hero; but considering his extreme youth when his perils began,
+the efforts which he made to meet them, and the impossibility of an
+effective resistance in the effete and exhausted condition of the
+Persian nation, history is scarcely justified in passing upon the
+unfortunate prince a severe judgment.
+
+The coins assigned to Isdigerd III. are neither numerous nor very
+remarkable. The head is in general very similar to that of Artaxerxes
+III. The pearl bordering around it is single, and in the margin are
+the usual stars and crescents of the later Sassanian kings. The margin,
+however, shows also in some instances a peculiar device behind the
+crown, and also a legend, which has been read, but very doubtfully,
+as "Ormazd." The king's name is given as Iskart or Iskarti. Among
+the regnal years marked on the reverse have been found the numbers
+"nineteen" and "twenty." Among the mint-marks are Azer-bijan, Abiverd,
+and Merv. [PLATE XXIV., Fig. 4]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+_Architecture of the Sassanians. Its Origin. Its Peculiarities. Oblong
+Square Plan. Arched Entrance Halls. Domes resting on Pendentives.
+Suites of Apartments. Ornamentation: Exterior, by Pilasters, Cornices,
+String-courses, and shallow arched Recesses, with Pilasters between
+them; Interior, by Pillars supporting Transverse Bibs,or by Door-ways
+and False Windows, like the Persopolitan. Specimen Palaces at Serbistan,
+at Firuzbad, at Ctesiphon, at Mashita. Elaborate Decoration at the
+last-named Palace. Decoration Elsewhere. Arch of Takht-i-Bostan.
+Sassanian Statuary. Sassanian Bas-reliefs. Estimate of their Artistic
+Value. Question of the Employment by the Sassanians of Byzantine
+Artists. General Summary._
+
+
+"With the accession of the Sassanians, Persia regained much of that
+power and stability to which she had been so long a stranger....
+The improvement in the fine arts at home indicates returning
+prosperity, and a degree of security unknown since the fall of the
+Achaemenidae."--Fergusson, _History of Architecture_, vol. i. pp. 381-3,
+3d edition.
+
+
+When Persia under the Sassanian princes shook off the barbarous yoke
+to which she had submitted for the space of almost five centuries, she
+found architecture and the other fine arts at almost the lowest possible
+ebb throughout the greater part of Western Asia. The ruins of the
+Achaemenian edifices, which were still to be seen at Pasargadae,
+Persopolis, and elsewhere, bore witness to the grandeur of idea, and
+magnificence of construction, which had once formed part of the heritage
+of the Persian nation; but the intervening period was one during which
+the arts had well-nigh wholly disappeared from the Western Asiatic
+world; and when the early sovereigns of the house of Sassan felt the
+desire, common with powerful monarchs, to exhibit their greatness in
+their buildings, they found themselves at the first without artists
+to design, without artisans to construct, and almost without models to
+copy. The Parthians, who had ruled over Persia for nearly four hundred
+years,' had preferred country to city life, tents to buildings, and had
+not themselves erected a single edifice of any pretension during the
+entire period of their dominion. Nor had the nations subjected to their
+sway, for the most part, exhibited any constructive genius, or been
+successful in supplying the artistic deficiencies of their rulers. In
+one place alone was there an exception to this general paralysis of the
+artistic powers. At Hatra, in the middle Mesopotamian region, an Arab
+dynasty, which held under the Parthian kings, had thought its dignity
+to require that it should be lodged in a palace, and had resuscitated a
+native architecture in Mesopotamia, after centuries of complete neglect.
+When the Sassanians looked about for a foundation on which they might
+work, and out of which they might form a style suitable to their needs
+and worthy of their power and opulence, they found what they sought in
+the Hatra edifice, which was within the limits of their kingdom, and at
+no great distance from one of the cities where they held their Court.
+
+The early palaces of the Sassanians have ceased to exist. Artaxerxes,
+the son of Babek, Sapor the first, and their immediate successors,
+undoubtedly erected residences for themselves exceeding in size and
+richness the buildings which had contented the Parthians, as well as
+those in which their own ancestors, the tributary kings of Persia under
+Parthia, had passed their lives. But these residences have almost wholly
+disappeared. The most ancient of the Sassanian buildings which admit of
+being measured and described are assigned to the century between A.D.
+350 and 450; and we are thus unable to trace the exact steps by which
+the Sassanian style was gradually elaborated. We come upon it when it is
+beyond the stage of infancy, when it has acquired a marked and decided
+character, when it no longer hesitates or falters, but knows what it
+wants, and goes straight to its ends. Its main features are simple,
+and are uniform from first to last, the later buildings being merely
+enlargements of the earlier, by an addition to the number or to the size
+of the apartments. The principal peculiarities of the style are, first,
+that the plan of the entire building is an oblong square, without
+adjuncts or projections; secondly, that the main entrance is into a
+lofty vaulted porch or hall by an archway of the entire width of
+the apartment; thirdly, that beside these oblong halls, the building
+contains square apartments, vaulted with domes, which are circular
+at their base, and elliptical in their section, and which rest on
+pendentives of an unusual character; fourthly, that the apartments
+are numerous and en suite, opening one into another, without the
+intervention of passages; and fifthly, that the palace comprises, as a
+matter of course, a court, placed towards the rear of the building, with
+apartments opening into it.
+
+The oblong square is variously proportioned. The depth may be a little
+more than the breadth, or it may be nearly twice as much. In either
+case, the front occupies one of the shorter sides, or ends of the
+edifice. The outer wall is sometimes pierced by one entrance only;
+but, more commonly, entrances are multiplied beyond the limit commonly
+observed in modern buildings. The great entrance is in the exact centre
+of the front. This entrance, as already noticed, is commonly by a lofty
+arch which (if we set aside the domes) is of almost the full height of
+the building, and constitutes one of its most striking, and to Europeans
+most extraordinary, features. From the outer air, we look; as it were,
+straight into the heart of the edifice, in one instance to the depth
+of 115 feet, a distance equal to the length of Henry VII.'s Chapel
+at Westminster. The effect is very strange when first seen by the
+inexperienced traveller; but similar entrances are common in the mosques
+of Armenia and Persia, and in the palaces of the latter country. In the
+mosques "lofty and deeply-recessed portals," "unrivalled for grandeur
+and appropriateness," are rather the rule than the exception; and, in
+the palaces, "Throne-rooms" are commonly mere deep recesses of this
+character, vaulted or supported by pillars, and open at one end to the
+full width and height of the apartment. The height of the arch varies
+in Sassanian buildings from about fifty to eighty-five feet; it is
+generally plain, and without ornament; but in one case we meet with a
+foiling of small arches round the great one, which has an effect that is
+not unpleasing.
+
+The domed apartments are squares of from twenty-five to forty feet, or a
+little more. The domes are circular at their base; but a section of them
+would exhibit a half ellipse, with its longest and shortest diameters
+proportioned as three to two. The height to which they rise from the
+ground is not much above seventy feet. A single building will have two
+or three domes, either of the same size, or occasionally of different
+dimensions. It is a peculiarity of their construction that they rest,
+not on drums, but on pendentives of a curious character. A series of
+semi-circular arches is thrown across the angles of the apartment,
+each projecting further into it than the preceding, and in this way
+the corners are got rid of, and the square converted into the circular
+shape. A cornice ran round the apartment, either above or below the
+pendentives, or sometimes both above and below. The domes were pierced
+by a number of small holes, which admitted some light, and the upper
+part of the walls between the pendentives was also pierced by windows.
+
+There are no passages or corridors in the Sassanian palaces. The rooms
+for the most part open one into the other. Where this is not the case,
+they give upon a common meeting-ground, which is either an open court,
+or a large vaulted apartment. The openings are in general doorways of
+moderate size, but sometimes they are arches of the full width of the
+subordinate room or apartment. As many as seventeen or eighteen rooms
+have been found in a palace.
+
+There is no appearance in any Sassanian edifice of a real second story.
+The famous Takht-i-Khosru presents externally the semblance of such an
+arrangement; but this seems to have been a mere feature of the external
+ornamentation, and to have had nothing to do with the interior.
+
+The exterior ornamentation of the Sassanian buildings was by pilasters,
+by arched recesses, by cornices, and sometimes by string-courses. An
+ornamentation at once simple and elegant is that of the lateral faces of
+the palace at Firuzabad, where long reed-like pilasters are carried
+from the ground to the cornice, while between them are a series of tall
+narrow doubly recessed arches. Far less satisfactory is the much more
+elaborate design adopted at Ctesiphon, where six series of blind
+arches of different kinds are superimposed the one on the other, with
+string-courses between them, and with pilasters, placed singly or
+in pairs, separating the arches into groups, and not regularly
+superimposed, as pillars, whether real or seeming, ought to be.
+
+The interior ornamentation was probably, in a great measure, by stucco,
+painting, and perhaps gilding. All this, however, if it existed, has
+disappeared; and the interiors now present a bare and naked appearance,
+which is only slightly relieved by the occasional occurrence of windows,
+of ornamental doorways, and of niches, which recall well-known features
+at Persepolis. In some instances, however, the arrangement of the larger
+rooms was improved by means of short pillars, placed at some distance
+from the walls, and supporting a sort of transverse rib, which broke the
+uniformity of the roof. The pillars were connected with the side walls
+by low arches.
+
+Such are the main peculiarities of Sassanian palace architecture. The
+general effect of the great halls is grand, though scarcely beautiful;
+and, in the best specimens, the entire palace has an air of simple
+severity which is striking and dignified. The internal arrangements do
+not appear to be very convenient. Too much is sacrificed to regularity;
+and the opening of each room into its neighbor must, one would
+think, have been unsatisfactory. Still, the edifices are regarded as
+"indicating considerable originality and power," though they "point to a
+state of society when attention to security hardly allowed the architect
+the free exercise of the more delicate ornaments of his art."
+
+From this general account of the main features of the architecture it
+is proposed now to proceed to a more particular description of the
+principal extant Sassanian buildings--the palaces at Serbistan,
+Firuzabad, Ctesiphon, and Mashita.
+
+The palace at Serbistan is the smallest, and probably the earliest of
+the four. It has been assigned conjecturally to the middle of the fourth
+century, or the reign of Sapor II. The ground plan is an oblong but
+little removed from a square, the length being 42 French metres, and the
+breadth nearly 37 metres. [PLATE XXV., Fig. 1.] The building faces west,
+and is entered by three archways, between which are groups of three
+semi-circular pilasters, while beyond the two outer arches towards the
+angles of the building is a single similar pilaster. Within the archways
+are halls or porches of different depths, the central one of the three
+being the shallowest. [PLATE XXV., Fig. 2.] This opens by an arched
+doorway into a square chamber, the largest in the edifice. It is domed,
+and has a diameter of about 42 feet or, including recesses, of above 57
+feet. The interior height of the dome from the floor is 65 feet. Beyond
+the domed chamber is a court, which measures 45 feet by 40, and has
+rooms of various sizes opening into it. One of these is domed; and
+others are for the most part vaulted. The great domed chamber opens
+towards the north, on a deep porch or hall, which was entered from
+without by the usual arched portal. On the south it communicates with a
+pillared hall, above 60 feet long by 30 broad. There is another somewhat
+similar hall on the north side of the building, in width about equal,
+but in length not quite 50 feet. In both halls the pillars are short,
+not exceeding six feet. They support piers, which run up perpendicularly
+for a considerable height, and then become ribs of the vaulting.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXV.]
+
+
+The Firuzabad palace has a length of above 390 and a width of above
+180 feet. Its supposed date is A.D. 450, or the reign of Isdigerd I.
+As usual the ground plan is an oblong square. [PLATE XXVI.] It is
+remarkable that the entire building had but a single entrance. This was
+by a noble arch, above 50 feet in height, which faced north, and gave
+admission into a vaulted hall, nearly 90 feet long by 43 wide, having at
+either side two lesser halls of a similar character, opening into it
+by somewhat low semi-circular arches, of nearly the full width of the
+apartments. Beyond these rooms, and communicating with them by narrow,
+but elegant doorways, were three domed chambers precisely similar,
+occupying together the full width of the building, each about 43 feet
+square, and crowned by elliptical domes rising to the height of nearly
+70 feet. [PLATE XXVII., Fig. 1.] The ornamentation of these chambers was
+by their doorways, and by false windows, on the Persepolitan model. The
+domed chambers opened into some small apartments, beyond which was
+a large court, about 90 feet square, surrounded by vaulted rooms of
+various sizes, which for the most part communicated directly with it.
+False windows, or recesses, relieved the interior of these apartments,
+but were of a less elaborate character than those of the domed chambers.
+Externally the whole building was chastely and tastefully ornamented by
+the tall narrow arches and reed-like pilasters already mentioned. [PLATE
+XXVII., Fig. 2.] Its character, however, was upon the whole "simple and
+severe;" nor can we quarrel with the judgment which pronounces it "more
+like a gigantic bastile than the palace of a gay, pavilion-loving people
+like the Persians."
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXVI.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXVII.]
+
+
+It is difficult to form any very decided opinion upon the architectural
+merits of the third and grandest of the Sassanian palaces, the well
+known "Takht-i-Ehosru," or palace of Chosroe's Anushirwan, at Ctesiphon.
+What remains of this massive erection is a mere fragment, which, to
+judge from the other extant Sassanian ruins, cannot have formed so much
+as one fourth part of the original edifice. [PLATE XXVIII., Fig. 1.]
+Nothing has come down to our day but a single vaulted hall on the
+grandest scale, 72 feet wide, 85 high, and 115 deep, together with the
+mere outer wall of what no doubt constituted the main facade of the
+building. The apartments, which, according to all analogy, must have
+existed at the two sides, and in the rear, of the great hall, some of
+which should have been vaulted, have wholly perished. Imagination may
+supply them from the Firuzabad, or the Mashita palace; but not a trace,
+even of their foundations, is extant; and the details, consequently, are
+uncertain, though the general plan can scarcely be doubted. At each side
+of the great hall were probably two lateral ones, communicating with
+each other, and capable of being entered either from the hall or from
+the outer air. Beyond the great hall was probably a domed chamber,
+equalling it in width, and opening upon a court, round which were a
+number of moderate-sized apartments. The entire building was no doubt
+an oblong square, of which the shorter sides seem to have measured 370
+feet. It had at least three, and may not improbably have had a larger
+number of entrances, since it belongs to tranquil times and a secure
+locality.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII.]
+
+
+The ornamentation of the existing facade of the palace is by doorways,
+doubly-arched recesses, pilasters, and string-courses. These last divide
+the building, externally, into an appearance of three or four distinct
+stories. The first and second stories are broken into portions by
+pilasters, which in the first or basement stories are in pairs, but
+in the second stand singly. It is remarkable that the pilasters of the
+second story are not arranged with any regard to those of the first,
+and are consequently in many cases not superimposed upon the lower
+pilasters. In the third and fourth stories there are no pilasters, the
+arched recesses being here continued without any interruption. Over
+the great arch of the central hall, a foiling of seventeen small
+semicircular arches constitutes a pleasing and unusual feature.
+
+The Mashita palace, which was almost certainly built between A.D. 614
+and A.D. 627, while on a smaller scale than that of Ctesiphon, was far
+more richly ornamented. [PLATE XXVIII., Fig. 2.] This construction of
+Chosroes II. (Parwiz) consisted of two distinct, buildings (separated by
+a court-yard, in which was a fountain), extending each of them about 180
+feet along the front, with a depth respectively of 140 and 150 feet. The
+main building, which lay to the north, was entered from the courtyard by
+three archways, semicircular and standing side by side, separated only
+by columns of hard, white stone, of a quality approaching to marble.
+These columns were surmounted by debased Corinthian capitals, of a type
+introduced by Justinian, and supported arches which were very richly
+fluted, and which are said to have been "not unlike our own late Norman
+work." [PLATE XXIX., Fig. 2.] The archways gave entrance into an oblong
+court or hall, about 80 feet long, by sixty feet wide, on which opened
+by a wide doorway the main room of the building. This was a triapsal
+hall, built of brick, and surmounted by a massive domed roof of the same
+material, which rested on pendentives like those employed at Serbistan
+and at Firuzabad. The diameter of the hall was a little short of 60
+feet. On either side of the triapsal hall, and in its rear, and again
+on either side of the court or hall on which it opened, were rooms of
+a smaller size, generally opening into each other, and arranged
+symmetrically, each side being the exact counterpart of the other. The
+number of these smaller apartments was twenty-five. [PLATE XXIX., Fig.
+1.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXIX.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXX.]
+
+
+The other building, which lies towards the south, and is separated from
+the one just described by the whole length of the court-yard, a distance
+of nearly 200 feet, appears to have been for the most part of an
+inferior character. It comprised one large hall, or inner court, but
+otherwise contained only small apartments, which, it is thought, may
+have been "intended as guard-rooms for the soldiers." Although, however,
+in most respects so unpretending, this edifice was adorned externally
+with a richness and magnificence unparalleled in the other remains of
+Sassanian times, and scarcely exceeded in the architecture of any age or
+nation. Forming, as it did, the only entrance by which the palace could
+be approached, and possessing the only front which was presented to
+the gaze of the outer world, its ornamentation was clearly an object of
+Chosroes' special care, who seems to have lavished upon it all the known
+resources of art. The outer wall was built of finely-dressed hard
+stone; and on this excellent material the sculptors of the time--whether
+Persian or Byzantine, it is impossible to determine--proceeded to carve
+in the most elaborate way, first a bold pattern of zigzags and rosettes,
+and then, over the entire surface, a most delicate tracery of foliage,
+animals, and fruits. The effect of the zigzags is to divide the wall
+into a number of triangular compartments, each of which is treated
+separately, covered with a decoration peculiar to itself, a fretwork of
+the richest kind, in which animal and vegetable forms are most happily
+intermingled. In one a vase of an elegant shape stands midway in the
+triangle at its base; two doves are seated on it, back to back; from
+between them rises a vine, which spreads its luxuriant branches over the
+entire compartment, covering it with its graceful curves and abundant
+fruitage; on either side of the vase a lion and a wild boar confront the
+doves with a friendly air; while everywhere amid the leaves and grapes
+we see the forms of birds, half revealed, half hidden by the foliage.
+Among the birds, peacocks, parrots, and partridges have been recognized;
+among the beasts, besides lions and wild boars, buffaloes, panthers,
+lynxes, and gazelles. In another panel a winged lion, the "lineal
+descendant of those found at Nineveh and Persepolis," reflects the
+mythological symbolism of Assyria, and shows how tenacious was its hold
+on the West-Asian mind. Nor is the human form wholly wanting. In one
+place we perceive a man's head, in close juxtaposition with man's
+inseparable companion, the dog; in another, the entire figure of a man,
+who carries a basket of fruit.
+
+Besides the compartments within the zigzags, the zigzags themselves and
+the rosettes are ornamented with a patterning of large leaves, while the
+moulding below the zigzags and the cornice, or string-course, above
+them are covered with conventional designs, the interstices between
+them being filled in with very beautiful adaptations of lesser vegetable
+forms.
+
+Altogether, the ornamentation of this magnificent facade may be
+pronounced almost unrivalled for beauty and appropriateness; and
+the entire palace may well be called "a marvellous example of the
+sumptuousness and selfishness of ancient princes," who expended on the
+gratification of their own taste and love of display the riches which
+would have been better employed in the defence of their kingdoms, or in
+the relief of their poorer subjects.
+
+The exquisite ornamentation of the Mashita palace exceeds anything which
+is found elsewhere in the Sassanian buildings, but it is not wholly
+different in kind from that of other remains of their architecture
+in Media and Persia Proper. The archivolte which adorns the arch of
+Takht-i-Bostan [PLATE XXXI., Fig. 1.] possesses almost equal delicacy
+with the patterned cornice or string-course of the Mashita building; and
+its flowered panels may compare for beauty with the Mashita triangular
+compartments. [PLATE XXXI., Fig. 2.] Sassanian capitals are also in
+many instances of lovely design, sometimes delicately diapered (A,
+B), sometimes worked with a pattern of conventional leaves and flowers
+[PLATE XXXII.], occasionally exhibiting the human form (D, E), or a
+flowery patterning, like that of the Takht-i-Bostan (F, Q). [PLATE
+XXXIII.] In the more elaborate specimens, the four faces--for the
+capitals are square--present designs completely different; in other
+instances, two of the four faces are alike, but on the other two the
+design is varied. The shafts of Sassanian columns, so far as we can
+judge, appear to have been fluted.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXXI.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXXII.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXXIII.]
+
+
+A work not exactly architectural, yet possessing architectural
+features--the well-known arch of Chosroes II. above alluded to--seems
+to deserve description before we pass to another branch of our subject.
+[PLATE XXXIV., Fig. 1.] This is an archway or grotto cut in the rock
+at Takht-i-Bostan, near Kerman-shah, which is extremely curious and
+interesting. On the brink of a pool of clear water, the sloping face
+of the rock has been cut into, and a recess formed, presenting at its
+further end a perpendicular face. This face, which is about 34 feet
+broad, by 31 feet high, and which is ornamented at the top by some
+rather rude gradines, has been penetrated by an arch, cut into the solid
+stone to the depth of above 20 feet, and elaborately ornamented,
+both within and without. Externally, the arch is in the first place
+surmounted by the archivolte already spoken of, and then, in the
+spandrels on either side are introduced flying figures of angels or
+Victories, holding chaplets in one hand and cups or vases in the other,
+which are little inferior to the best Roman art. [PLATE XXXIV., Fig. 2.]
+Between the figures is a crescent, perhaps originally enclosing a ball,
+and thus presenting to the spectator, at the culminating point of the
+whole sculpture, the familiar emblems of two of the national divinities.
+Below the spandrels and archivolte, on either side of the arched
+entrance, are the flowered panels above-mentioned, alike in most
+respects, but varying in some of their details. Within the recess, its
+two sides, and its further end, are decorated with bas-reliefs, those
+on the sides representing Chosroes engaged in the chase of the wild boar
+and the stag, while those at the end, which are in two lines, one over
+the other, show the monarch, above, in his robes of state, receiving
+wreaths from ideal beings; below, in his war costume, mounted upon his
+favorite charger, Sheb-Diz, with his spear poised in his hand, awaiting
+the approach of the enemy. The modern critic regards this figure as
+"original and interesting." We shall have occasion to recur to it when
+we treat of the "Manners and Customs" of the Neo-Persian people.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXXIV.]
+
+
+The glyptic art of the Sassanian is seen chiefly in their bas-reliefs;
+but one figure "in the round" has come down to us from their times,
+which seems to deserve particular description. This is a colossal statue
+of Sapor I., hewn (it would seem) out of the natural rock, which still
+exists, though overthrown and mutilated, in a natural grotto near the
+ruined city of Shapur. [PLATE XXXV.] The original height of the figure,
+according to M. Texier, was 6 metres 7 centimetres, or between 19 and.
+20 feet. It was well proportioned, and carefully wrought, representing
+the monarch in peaceful attire, but with a long sword at his left side,
+wearing the mural crown which characterizes him on the bas-reliefs,
+and dressed in a tunic and trousers of a light and flexible material,
+apparently either silk or muslin. The hair, beard, and mustachios,
+were neatly arranged and well rendered. The attitude of the figure was
+natural and good. One hand, the right, rested upon the hip; the other
+touched, but without grasping it, the hilt of the long straight sword.
+If we may trust the representation of M. Texier's artist, the folds of
+the drapery were represented with much skill and delicacy; but the hands
+and feet of the figure, especially the latter, were somewhat roughly
+rendered.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXXV.]
+
+
+The bas-reliefs of the Sassanians are extremely numerous, and though
+generally rude, and sometimes even grotesque, are not without a certain
+amount of merit. Some of the earlier and coarser specimens have been
+already given in this volume; and one more of the same class is here
+appended [PLATE XXXVI., Fig. 1.] but we have now to notice some other
+and better examples, which seem to indicate that the Persians of this
+period attained a considerable proficiency in this branch of the glyptic
+art. The reliefs belonging to the time of Sapor I. are generally poor
+in conception and ill-executed; but in one instance, unless the modern
+artist has greatly flattered his original, a work of this time is not
+devoid of some artistic excellence. This is a representation of the
+triumph of Sapor over Valerian, comprising only four figures--Sapor,
+an attendant, and two Romans--of which the three principal are boldly
+drawn, in attitudes natural, yet effective, and in good proportion.
+[PLATE XXXVII.] The horse on which Sapor rides is of the usual clumsy
+description, reminding us of those which draw our brewers' wains; and
+the exaggerated hair, floating ribbons and uncouth head-dress of the
+monarch give an _outre_ and ridiculous air to the chief figure; but, if
+we deduct these defects, which are common to almost all the Sassanian
+artists, the representation becomes pleasing and dignified. Sapor sits
+his horse well, and thinks not of himself, but of what he is doing.
+Cyriades, who is somewhat too short, receives the diadem from his
+benefactor with a calm satisfaction. But the best figure is that of the
+captive emperor, who kneels on one knee, and, with outstretched arms,
+implores the mercy of the conqueror. The whole representation is
+colossal, the figures being at least three times the size of life; the
+execution seems to have been good; but the work has been considerably
+injured by the effects of time.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXXVI.]
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXXVII.]
+
+
+Another bas-relief of the age of Sapor I. is on too large a scale, and
+too complicated, to be represented here; but a description may be given
+of it, and a specimen subjoined, from which the reader may judge of
+its character. On a surface of rock at Shapur, carefully smoothed and
+prepared for sculpture, the second Sassanian monarch appears in the
+centre of the tablet, mounted on horseback, and in his usual costume,
+with a dead Roman under his horse's feet, and holding another
+(Cyriades?), by the hand. In front of him, a third Roman, the
+representative of the defeated nation, makes submission; and then follow
+thirteen tribute-bearers, bringing rings of gold, shawls, bowls, and the
+like, and conducting also a horse and an elephant. Behind the monarch,
+on the same line, are thirteen mounted guardsmen. Directly above, and
+directly below the central group, the tablet is blank; but on either
+side the subject is continued, above in two lines, and below in one,
+the guardsmen towards the left amounting in all to fifty-six, and the
+tribute-bearers on the right to thirty-five. The whole tablet comprises
+ninety-five human and sixty-three animal figures, besides a
+Victory floating in the sky. The illustration [PLATE XXXVIII.] is a
+representation of the extreme right-hand portion of the second line.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXXVIII.]
+
+
+After the time of Sapor I. there is a manifest decline in Sassanian art.
+The reliefs of Varahran II. and Varahran III., of Narses and Sapor III.,
+fall considerably below those of Sapor, son of Artaxerxes. It is not
+till we arrive at the time of Varahran IV. (A.D. 388-399) that we once
+more have works which possess real artistic merit. Indications have
+already appeared in an earlier chapter of this monarch's encouragement
+of artists, and of a kind of art really meriting the name. We saw
+that his gems were exquisitely cut, and embodied designs of first-rate
+excellence. It has now to be observed further, that among the
+bas-reliefs of the greatest merit which belong to Sassanian times, one
+at least must be ascribed to him; and that, this being so, there is
+considerable probability that two others of the same class belong also
+to his reign. The one which must undoubtedly be his, and which tends
+to fix the date of the other two, exists at Nakhsh-i-Kustam, near
+Persepolis, and has frequently been copied by travellers. It represents
+a mounted warrior, with the peculiar head-dress of Varahran IV.,
+charging another at full speed, striking him with his spear, and bearing
+both horse and rider to the ground. [PLATE XXXIX.] A standard-bearer
+marches a little behind; and a dead warrior lies underneath Varahran's
+horse, which is clearing the obstacle in his bound. The spirit of the
+entire composition is admirable; and though the stone is in a state of
+advanced decay, travellers never fail to admire the vigor of the design
+and the life and movement which characterize it.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XXXIX.]
+
+
+The other similar reliefs to which reference has been made exist,
+respectively, at Nakhsh-i-Eustam and at Firuzabad. The Nakhsh-i-Rustam
+tablet is almost a duplicate of the one above described and represented,
+differing from it mainly in the omission of the prostrate figure, in the
+forms of the head-dresses borne by the two cavaliers, and in the shape
+of the standard. It is also in better preservation than the other,
+and presents some additional details. The head-dress of the Sassanian
+warrior is very remarkable, being quite unlike any other known example.
+It consists of a cap, which spreads as it rises, and breaks into three
+points, terminating in large striped balls. [PLATE XXVI., Fig. 2.]
+His adversary wears a helmet crowned with a similar ball. The standard,
+which is in the form of a capital T, displays also five balls of the
+same sort, three rising from the cross-bar, and the other two hanging
+from it. Were it not for the head-dress of the principal figure, this
+sculpture might be confidently assigned to the monarch who set up the
+neighboring one. As it is, the point must be regarded as undecided, and
+the exact date of the relief as doubtful. It is, however, unlikely to be
+either much earlier, or much later, than the time of Varahran IV.
+
+The third specimen of a Sassanian battle-scene exists at Firuzabad, in
+Persia Proper, and has been carefully rendered by M. Flandin. It is in
+exceedingly bad condition, but appears to have comprised the figures
+of either five or six horsemen, of whom the two principal are a warrior
+whose helmet terminates in the head of a bird, and one who wears a
+crown, above which rises a cap, surmounted by a ball. [PLATE XL.] The
+former of these, who is undoubtedly a Sassanian prince, pierces with
+his spear the right side of the latter, who is represented in the act of
+falling to the ground. His horse tumbles at the same time, though why he
+does so is not quite clear, since he has not been touched by the other
+charger. His attitude is extravagantly absurd, his hind feet being on a
+level with the head of his rider. Still more absurd seems to have been
+the attitude of a horse at the extreme right, which turns in falling,
+and exposes to the spectator the inside of the near thigh and the belly.
+But, notwithstanding these drawbacks, the representation has great
+merit. The figures live and breathe--that of the dying king expresses
+horror and helplessness, that of his pursuer determined purpose
+and manly strength. Even the very horses are alive, and manifestly
+rejoice in the strife. The entire work is full of movement, of variety,
+and of artistic spirit.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XL.]
+
+
+If we have regard to the highest qualities of glyptic art, Sassanian
+sculpture must be said here to culminate. There is a miserable falling
+off, when about a hundred and fifty years later the Great Chosroes
+(Anushirwan) represents himself at Shapur, seated on his throne, and
+fronting to the spectator, with guards and attendants on one side, and
+soldiers bringing in prisoners, human heads, and booty, on the other.
+[PLATE XLI.] The style here recalls that of the tamer reliefs set up by
+the first Sapor, but is less pleasing. Some of the prisoners appear
+to be well drawn; but the central figure, that of the monarch, is
+grotesque; the human heads are ghastly; and the soldiers and attendants
+have little merit. The animal forms are better--that of the elephant
+especially, though as compared with the men it is strangely out of
+proportion.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XLI.]
+
+
+With Chosroes II. (Eberwiz or Parviz), the grandson of Anushirwan,
+who ascended the throne only twelve years after the death of his
+grandfather, and reigned from A.D. 591 to A.D. 628, a reaction set in.
+We have seen the splendor and good taste of his Mashita palace,
+the beauty of some of his coins, and the general excellence of his
+ornamentation. It remains to notice the character of his reliefs, found
+at present in one locality only, viz., at Takht-i-Bostan, where they
+constitute the main decorations of the great triumphal arch of this
+monarch. [PLATE XLII.]
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XLII.]
+
+
+These reliefs consist of two classes of works, colossal figures and
+hunting-pieces. The colossal figures, of which some account has been
+already given, and which are represented in PLATE XLI., have but little
+merit. They are curious on account of their careful elaboration, and
+furnish important information with respect to Sassanian dress and
+armature, but they are poor in design, being heavy, awkward, and
+ungainly. Nothing can well be less beautiful than the three overstout
+personages, who stand with their heads nearly or quite touching the
+crown of the arch, at its further extremity, carefully drawn in detail,
+but in outline little short of hideous. The least bad is that to the
+left, whose drapery is tolerably well arranged, and whose face, judging
+by what remains of it, was not unpleasing. Of the other two it is
+impossible to say a word in commendation.
+
+The mounted cavalier below them--Chosroes himself on his black war
+horse, Sheb-Diz--is somewhat better. The pose of horse and horseman has
+dignity; the general proportions are fairly correct, though (as usual)
+the horse is of a breed that recalls the modern dray-horse rather
+than the charger. The figure, being near the ground, has suffered much
+mutilation, probably at the hands of Moslem fanatics; the off hind
+leg of the horse is gone; his nose and mouth have disappeared; and the
+horseman has lost his right foot and a portion of his lower clothing.
+But nevertheless, the general effect is not altogether destroyed.
+Modern travellers admire the repose and dignity of the composition, its
+combination of simplicity with detail, and the delicacy and finish of
+some portions. It may be added that the relief of the figure is high;
+the off legs of the horse were wholly detached; and the remainder of
+both horse and rider was nearly, though not quite, disengaged from the
+rock behind them.
+
+The hunting-pieces, which ornament the interior of the arched recess
+on either side, are far superior to the colossal figures, and merit
+an exact description. On the right, the perpendicular space below the
+spring of the arch contains the representation of a stag hunt, in which
+the monarch and about a dozen other mounted horsemen take part, assisted
+by some ten or twelve footmen, and by a detachment mounted on elephants.
+[PLATE XLIII.] The elephants, which are nine in number, occupy the
+extreme right of the tablet, and seem to be employed in driving the deer
+into certain prepared enclosures. Each of the beasts is guided by three
+riders, sitting along their backs, of whom the central one alone has the
+support of a saddle or howdah. The enclosures into which the elephants
+drive the game are three in number; they are surrounded by nets; and
+from the central one alone is there an exit. Through this exit, which is
+guarded by two footmen, the game passes into the central field, or main
+space of the sculpture, where the king awaits them. He is mounted on his
+steed, with his bow passed over his head, his sword at his side, and
+an attendant holding the royal parasol over him. It is not quite clear
+whether he himself does more than witness the chase. The game is in
+the main pursued and brought to the ground by horsemen without royal
+insignia, and is then passed over into a further compartment--the
+extreme one towards the left, where it is properly arranged and placed
+upon camels for conveyance to the royal palace. During the whole
+proceeding a band of twenty-six musicians, some of whom occupy an
+elevated platform, delights with a "concord of sweet sounds" the
+assembled sportsmen.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XLIII.]
+
+
+On the opposite, or left-hand, side of the recess, is represented a
+boar-hunt. [PLATE XLIV.] Here again, elephants, twelve in number, drive
+the game into an enclosure without exit. Within this space nearly a
+hundred boars and pigs may be counted. The ground being marshy, the
+monarch occupies a boat in the centre, and from this transfixes the game
+with his arrows. No one else takes part in the sport, unless it be the
+riders on a troop of five elephants, represented in the lower middle
+portion of the tablet. When the pigs fall, they are carried into
+a second enclosure, that on the right, where they are upturned,
+disembowelled, and placed across the backs of elephants, which convey
+them to the abode of the monarch. Once more, the scene is enlivened by
+music. Two bands of harpers occupy boats on either side of that which
+carries the king, while another harper sits with him in the boat from
+which he delivers his arrows. In the water about the boats are seen
+reeds, ducks, and numerous fishes. The oars by which the boats are
+propelled have a singular resemblance to those which are represented in
+some of the earliest Assyrian sculptures. Two other features must also
+be noticed. Near the top of the tablet, towards the left, five figures
+standing in a boat seem to be clapping their hands in order to drive the
+pigs towards the monarch; while in the right centre of the picture there
+is another boat, more highly ornamented than the rest, in which we seem
+to have a second representation of the king, differing from the first
+only in the fact that his arrow has flown, and that he is in the act of
+taking another arrow from an attendant In this second representation the
+king's head is surrounded by a nimbus or "glory." Altogether there are
+in this tablet more than seventy-five human and nearly 150 animal forms.
+In the other, the human forms are about seventy, and the animal ones
+about a hundred.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XLIV.]
+
+
+The merit of the two reliefs above described, which would require to be
+engraved on a large scale, in order that justice should be done to them,
+consists in the spirit and truth of the animal forms, elephants, camels,
+stags, boars, horses, and in the life and movement of the whole picture.
+The rush of the pigs, the bounds of the stags and hinds, the heavy
+march of the elephants, the ungainly movements of the camels, are well
+portrayed; and in one instance, the foreshortening of a horse, advancing
+diagonally, is respectably rendered. In general, Sassanian sculpture,
+like most delineative art in its infancy, affects merely the profile;
+but here, and in the overturned horse already described, and again in
+the Victories which ornament the spandrels of the arch of Chosroes, the
+mere profile is departed from with good effect, and a power is shown
+of drawing human and animal figures in front or at an angle. What is
+wanting in the entire Sassanian series is idealism, or the notion
+of elevating the representation in any respects above the object
+represented; the highest aim of the artist is to be true to nature; in
+this truthfulness is his triumph; but as he often falls short of his
+models, his whole result, even at the best, is unsatisfactory and
+disappointing.
+
+Such must almost necessarily be the sentence of art critics, who judge
+the productions of this age and nation according to the abstract rules,
+or the accepted standards, of artistic effort. But if circumstances of
+time and country are taken into account, if comparison is limited to
+earlier and later attempts in the same region, or even in neighboring
+ones, a very much more favorable judgment will be passed. The Saseanian
+reliefs need not on the whole shrink from a comparison with those of
+the Achaemenian Persians. If they are ruder and more grotesque, they are
+also more spirited and more varied; and thus, though they fall short in
+some respects, still they must be pronounced superior to the Achaemenian
+in some of the most important artistic qualities. Nor do they fall
+greatly behind the earlier, and in many respects admirable, art of the
+Assyrians. They are less numerous and cover a lees variety of subjects;
+they have less delicacy; but they have equal or greater fire. In the
+judgment of a traveller not given to extravagant praise, they are, in
+some cases at any rate, "executed in the most masterly style." "I never
+saw," observes Sir R. Kerr Porter, "the elephant, the stag, or the boar
+portrayed with greater truth and spirit. The attempts at detailed human
+form are," he adds, "far inferior."
+
+Before, however, we assign to the Sassanian monarchs, and to the people
+whom they governed, the merit of having produced results so worthy of
+admiration, it becomes necessary to inquire whether there is reason
+to believe that other than native artists wore employed in their
+production. It has been very confidently stated that Chosroes the Second
+"brought Roman artists" to Takht-i-Bostan, and by their aid eclipsed the
+glories of his great predecessors, Artaxerxes, son of Babek, and the
+two Sapors. Byzantine forms are declared to have been reproduced in the
+moldings of the Great Arch, and in the Victories. The lovely tracery
+of the Mashita Palace is regarded as in the main the work of Greeks and
+Syrians.06 No doubt it is quite possible that there may be some truth in
+these allegations; but we must not forget, or let it be forgotten, that
+they rest on conjecture and are without historical foundation. The works
+of the first Chosroes at Ctesiphon, according to a respectable Greek
+writer, were produced for him by foreign artists, sent to his court by
+Justinian. But no such statement is made with respect to his grandson.
+On the contrary, it is declared by the native writers that a certain
+Ferhad, a Persian, was the chief designer of them; and modern critics
+admit that his hand may perhaps be traced, not only at Takht-i-Bostan,
+but at the Mashita Palace also. If then the merit of the design is
+conceded to a native artist, we need not too curiously inquire the
+nationality of the workmen employed by him.
+
+At the worst, should it be thought that Byzantine influence appears so
+plainly in the later Sassanian works, that Rome rather than Persia must
+be credited with the buildings and sculptures of both the first and
+the second Chosroes, still it will have to be allowed that the
+earlier palaces--those at Ser-bistan and Firuzabad--and the spirited
+battle-scenes above described, are wholly native; since they present
+no trace of any foreign element. But, it is in these battle-scenes, as
+already noticed, that the delineative art of the Sassanians culminates;
+and it may further be questioned whether the Firuzabad palace is not
+the finest specimen of their architecture, severe though it be in the
+character of its ornamentation; so that, even should we surrender the
+whole of the later works enough will still remain to show that the
+Sassanians, and the Persians of their day, had merit as artists and
+builders, a merit the more creditable to them inasmuch as for five
+centuries they had had no opportunity of cultivating their powers,
+having been crushed by the domination of a race singularly devoid of
+artistic aspirations. Even with regard to the works for which they may
+have been indebted to foreigners, it is to be remembered that, unless
+the monarchs had appreciated high art, and admired it, they would not
+have hired, at great expense, the services of these aliens. For my
+own part, I see no reason to doubt that the Sassanian remains of every
+period are predominantly, if not exclusively, native, not excepting
+those of the first Chosroes, for I mistrust the statement of
+Theophylact.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+ON THE RELIGION, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, ETC., OF THE LATER PERSIANS.
+
+
+_Religion of the later Persians, Dualism of the extremest kind. Ideas
+entertained with respect to Ormazd and Ahriman. Representations of them.
+Ormazd the special Guardian of the Kings. Lesser Deities subject
+to Ormazd: Mithra, Serosh, Vayu, Airyanam, Vitraha, etc. The six
+Amshash-pands: Bahman, Ardibehesht, Shahravar, Isfand-armat, Khordad,
+and Amerdat. Religion, how far idolatrous. Worship of Anaitis. Chief
+Evil Spirits subject to Ahriman: Alcomano, Indra, Caurva, Naonhaitya,
+Taric, and Zaric. Position of Man between the two Worlds of Good and
+Evil. His Duties: Worship, Agriculture, Purity. Nature of the Worship.
+Hymns, Invocations, the Homa Ceremony, Sacrifice. Agriculture a part
+of Religion. Purity required: 1, Moral; 2, Legal. Nature of each. Man's
+future Prospects. Position of the Magi under the Sassanians; their
+Organization, Dress, etc. The Fire-temples and Altars. The Barsom. The
+Khrafcthraghna. Magnificence of the Sassanian Court; the Throne-room,
+the Seraglio, the Attendants, the Ministers. Midttude of Palaces. Dress
+of the Monarch: 1, in Peace; 2, in War, Favorite Pastimes of the Kings.
+Hunting. Maintenance of Paradises. Stag and Boar-hunts. Music. Hawking.
+Games. Character of the Persian Warfare under the Sassanians. Sassanian
+Chariots. The Elephant Corps. The Cavalry. The Archers. The ordinary
+Infantry. Officers. Standards. Tactics. Private Life of the later
+Persians. Agricultural Employment of the Men. Non-seclusion of the
+Women. General Freedom from Oppression of all Classes except the
+highest._
+
+
+The general character of the Persian religion, as revived by the founder
+of the Sassanian dynasty, has been described in a former chapter; but
+it is felt that the present work would be incomplete if it failed to
+furnish the reader with a tolerably full account of so interesting a
+matter; more especially, since the religious question lay at the root
+of the original rebellion and revolution which raised the Sassanidae
+to power, and was to a considerable extent the basis and foundation of
+their authority. An access of religious fervor gave the Persians of the
+third century after Christ the strength which enabled them to throw
+off the yoke of their Parthian lords and recover the sceptre of Western
+Asia. A strong--almost fanatical--religious spirit animated the greater
+number of the Sassanian monarchs. When the end of the kingdom came, the
+old faith was still flourishing; and, though its star paled before that
+of Mohammedanism, the faith itself survived, and still survives at the
+present day.
+
+It has been observed that Dualism constituted the most noticeable
+feature of the religion. It may now be added that the Dualism professed
+was of the most extreme and pronounced kind. Ormazd and Ahriman, the
+principles of Good and Evil, were expressly declared to be "twins." They
+had "in the beginning come together to create Life and Death, and to
+settle how the world was to be." There was no priority of existence
+of the one over the other, and no decided superiority. The two, being
+coeval, had contended from all eternity, and would, it was almost
+certain, continue to contend to all eternity, neither being able to
+vanquish the other. Thus an eternal struggle was postulated between good
+and evil; and the issue was doubtful, neither side possessing any clear
+and manifest advantage.
+
+The two principles were Persons. Ormazd was "the creator of life, the
+earthly and the spiritual," he who "made the celestial bodies, earth,
+water, and trees." He was "good," "holy," "pure," "true," "the Holy
+God," "the Holiest," "the Essence of Truth," "the father of all truth,"
+"the being best of all," "the master of purity." He was supremely
+"happy," being possessed of every blessing, "health, wealth, virtue,
+wisdom, immortality." From him came every good gift enjoyed by man; on
+the pious and the righteous he bestowed, not only earthly advantages,
+but precious spiritual gifts, truth, devotion, "the good mind," and
+everlasting happiness; and, as he rewarded the good, so he also
+punished the bad, though this was an aspect in which he was but seldom
+represented.
+
+While Ormazd, thus far, would seem to be a presentation of the Supreme
+Being in a form not greatly different from that wherein it has pleased
+him to reveal Himself to mankind through the Jewish and Christian
+scriptures, there are certain points of deficiency in the
+representation, which are rightly viewed as placing the Persian very
+considerably below the Jewish and Christian idea. Besides the limitation
+on the power and freedom of Ormazd implied in the eternal co-existence
+with him of another and a hostile principle, he is also limited by the
+independent existence of space, time, and light, which appear in
+the Zenda vesta as "self-created," or "without beginning," and must
+therefore be regarded as "conditioning" the Supreme Being, who has to
+work, as best he may, under circumstances not caused by himself. Again,
+Ormazd is not a purely spiritual being. He is conceived of as possessing
+a sort of physical nature. The "light," which is one of his properties,
+seems to be a material radiance. He can be spoken of as possessing
+health. The whole conception of him, though not grossly material, is far
+from being wholly immaterial. His nature is complex, not simple. He may
+not have a body, in the ordinary sense of the word; but he is entangled
+with material accidents, and is far from answering to the pure spirit,
+"without body, parts, or passions," which forms the Christian conception
+of the Deity.
+
+Ahriman, the Evil Principle, is of course far more powerful and terrible
+than the Christian and Jewish Satan. He is uncaused, co-eternal with
+Ormazd, engaged in a perpetual warfare with him. Whatever good thing
+Ormazd creates, Ahriman corrupts and ruins it. Moral and physical evils
+are alike at his disposal. He blasts the earth with barrenness, or
+makes it produce thorns, thistles, and poisonous plants; his are the
+earthquake, the storm, the plague of hail, the thunderbolt; he causes
+disease and death, sweeps off a nation's flocks and herds by murrain, or
+depopulates a continent by pestilence; ferocious wild beasts, serpents,
+toads, mice, hornets, mosquitoes, are his creation; he invented and
+introduced into the world the sins of witchcraft, murder, unbelief,
+cannibalism, sodomy; he excites wars and tumults, stirs up the bad
+against the good, and labors by every possible expedient to make vice
+triumph over virtue. Ormazd can exercise no control over him; the utmost
+that he can do is to keep a perpetual watch on his rival, and seek to
+baffle and defeat him. This he is not always able to do. Despite his
+best endeavors, Ahriman is not unfrequently victorious.
+
+In the purer times of the Zoroastrian religion it would seem that
+neither Ormazd nor Ahriman was represented by sculptured forms. A
+symbolism alone was permitted, which none could mistake for a real
+attempt to portray these august beings. But by the date of the Sassanian
+revival, the original spirit of the religion had suffered considerable
+modification; and it was no longer thought impious, or perilous, to
+exhibit the heads of the Pantheon, in the forms regarded as appropriate
+to them, upon public monuments. The great Artaxerxes, probably soon
+after his accession, set up a memorial of his exploits, in which he
+represented himself as receiving the insignia of royalty from Ormazd
+himself, while Ahriman, prostrate and seemingly, though of course not
+really, dead, lay at the feet of the steed on which Ormazd was mounted.
+In the form of Ormazd there is nothing very remarkable; he is attired
+like the king, has a long beard and flowing locks, and carries in his
+left hand a huge staff or baton, which he holds erect in a slanting
+position. The figure of Ahriman possesses more interest. The face wears
+an expression of pain and suffering; but the features are calm, and in
+no way disturbed. They are regular, and at least as handsome as those of
+Artaxerxes and his divine patron. He wears a band or diadem across the
+brow, above which we see a low cap or crown. From this escape the heads
+and necks of a number of vipers or snakes, fit emblems of the poisonous
+and "death-dealing" Evil One.
+
+Some further representations of Ormazd occur in the Sassanian
+sculptures; but Ahriman seems not to be portrayed elsewhere. Ormazd
+appears on foot in a relief of the Great Arta-xerxes, which contains two
+figures only, those of himself and his divine patron. He is also to be
+seen in a sculpture which belongs probably to Sapor I., and represents
+that monarch in the act of receiving the diadem from Artaxerxes, his
+father. In the former of these two tablets the type exhibited in the
+bas-relief just described is followed without any variation; in the
+latter, the type is considerably modified. Ormazd still carries his huge
+baton, and is attired in royal fashion; but otherwise his appearance is
+altogether new and singular. His head bears no crown, but is surrounded
+by a halo of streaming rays; he has not much beard, but his hair, bushy
+and abundant, flows down on his two shoulders; he faces the spectator,
+and holds his baton in both his hands; finally, he stands upon a
+blossom, which is thought to be that of a sim-flower. Perhaps the
+conjecture is allowable that here we have Ormazd exhibited to us in a
+solar character, with the attributes of Mithra, from whom, in the olden
+time, he was carefully distinguished.
+
+Ormazd seems to have been regarded by the kings as their special
+guardian and protector. No other deity (unless in one instance) is
+brought into close proximity with them; no other obtains mention in
+their inscriptions; from no other do they allow that they receive the
+blessing of offspring. Whatever the religion of the common people, that
+of the kings would seem to have been, in the main, the worship of this
+god, whom they perhaps sometimes confused with Mithra, or associated
+with Anaitis, but whom they never neglected, or failed openly to
+acknowledge.
+
+Under the great Ormazd were a number of subordinate deities, the
+principal of whom were Mithra and Serosh, Mithra, the Sun-God, had been
+from a very early date an object of adoration in Persia, only second
+to Ormazd. The Achaemenian kings joined him occasionally with Ormazd
+in their invocations. In processions his chariot, drawn by milk-white
+horses, followed closely on that of Ormazd. He was often associated
+with Ormazd, as if an equal, though a real equality was probably not
+intended. He was "great," "pure," "imperishable," "the beneficent
+protector of all creatures," and "the beneficent preserver of all
+creatures." He had a thousand ears and ten thousand eyes. His worship
+was probably more widely extended than that of Ormazd himself, and was
+connected in general with a material representation.
+
+In the early times this was a simple disk, or circle; but from the reign
+of Artaxerxes Mnemon, a human image seems to have been substituted.
+Prayer was offered to Mithra three times a day, at dawn, at noon, and
+at sunset; and it was usual to worship him with sacrifice. The horse
+appears to have been the victim which he was supposed to prefer.
+
+Sraosha, or Serosh, was an angel of great power and dignity. He was the
+special messenger of Ormazd, and the head of his celestial army. He was
+"tall, well-formed, beautiful, swift, victorious, happy, sincere, true,
+the master of truth." It was his office to deliver revelations, to show
+men the paths of happiness, and to bring them the blessings which Ormazd
+had assigned to each. He invented the music for the five most ancient
+Gathas, discovered the barsom or divining-rod, and first taught its use
+to mankind. From his palace on the highest summit of the Elburz range,
+he watched the proceedings of the evil genii, and guarded the world
+from their attempts. The Iranians were his special care; but he lost
+no opportunity of injuring the Powers of Darkness, and lessening their
+dominion by teaching everywhere the true religion. In the other world
+it was his business to conduct the souls of the faithful through the
+dangers of the middle passage, and to bring them before the golden
+throne of Ormazd.
+
+Among minor angelic powers were Vayu, "the wind," who is found also in
+the Vedic system; Airyanam, a god presiding over marriages; Vitraha, a
+good genius; Tistrya, the Dog Star, etc. The number of the minor
+deities was not, however, great; nor do they seem, as in so many other
+polytheistic religions, to have advanced in course of time from a
+subordinate to a leading position. From first to last they are of small
+account; and it seems, therefore, unnecessary to detain the reader by an
+elaborate description of them.
+
+From the mass, however, of the lower deities or genii must be
+distinguished (besides Mithra and Serosh) the six Amesha Spentas, or
+Amshashpands, who formed the council of Ormazd, and in a certain sense
+reflected his glory. These were Vohu-mano or Bahman, Ashavahista
+or Ardibehesht, Khsha-thra-vairya or Shahravar, Spenta-Armaiti or
+Isfandarmat, Haurvatat or Khordad, and Ameretat or Amerdat. Vohu-mano,
+"the Good Mind," originally a mere attribute of Ormazd, came to be
+considered a distinct being, created by him to be his attendant and his
+councillor. He was, as it were, the Grand Vizier of the Almighty King,
+the chief of the heavenly conclave. Ormazd entrusted to him especially
+the care of animal life; and thus, as presiding over cattle, he is the
+patron deity of the agriculturist. Asha-vahista, "the best truth," or
+"the best purity," is the Light of the universe, subtle, pervading,
+omnipresent. He maintains the splendor of the various luminaries, and
+presides over the element of fire. Khsha-thra-vairya, "wealth," has the
+goods of this world at his disposal, and specially presides over metals,
+the conventional signs of wealth; he is sometimes identified with the
+metal which he dispenses. Spenta-Armaiti, "Holy Armaiti," is at once
+the genius of the Earth, and the goddess of piety. She has the charge of
+"the good creation," watches over it, and labors to convert the desolate
+and unproductive portions of it into fruitful fields and gardens.
+Together with Vohu-mano, she protects the agriculturist, blessing his
+land with increase, as Vohu-mano does his cattle. She is called "the
+daughter of Ormazd," and is regarded as the agent through whom Ormazd
+created the earth. Moreover, "she tells men the everlasting laws, which
+no one may abolish," or, in other words, imparts to them the eternal
+principles of morality. She is sometimes represented as standing next
+to Ormazd in the mythology, as in the profession of faith required of
+converts to Zoroastrianism. The two remaining Amshashpands, Haurvatat
+and Ameretat, "Health" and "Immortality," have the charge of the
+vegetable creation; Haurvatat causes the flow of water, so necessary
+to the support of vegetable life in countries where little rain falls;
+Ameretat protects orchards and gardens, and enables trees to bring their
+fruits to perfection.
+
+Another deity, practically perhaps as much worshipped as Ormazd and
+Mithra, was Anaitis or Anahit. Anaiitis was originally an Assyrian and
+Babylonian, not a Zoroastrian goddess; but her worship spread to the
+Persians at a date anterior to Herodotus, and became in a short time
+exceedingly popular. It was in connection with this worship that
+idolatry seems first to have crept in, Artaxerxes Mnemon (ab. B.C. 400)
+having introduced images of Anaitis into Persia, and set them up at
+Susa, the capital, at Persepolis, Ecbatana, Bactra, Babylon, Damascus,
+and Sardis. Anaitis was the Babylonian Venus; and her rites at Babylon
+were undoubtedly of a revolting character. It is to be feared that they
+were introduced in all their grossness into Persia, and that this was
+the cause of Anahitis great popularity. Her cult "was provided with
+priests and hieroduli, and connected with mysteries, feasts, and
+unchaste ways."
+
+The Persian system was further tainted with idolatry in respect of the
+worship of Mithra, and possibly of Vohu-mano (Batman), and of Amerdat;
+but on the whole, and especially as compared with other Oriental cults,
+the religion, even of the later Zoroastrians, must be regarded as
+retaining a non-materialistic and anti-idolatrous character, which
+elevated it above other neighboring religions, above Brahminism on the
+one hand and Syro-Chaldaean nature-worship on the other.
+
+In the kingdom of Darkness, the principal powers, besides Ahriman,
+were Ako-mano, Indra, Qaurva, Naonhaitya, Taric, and Zaric. These six
+together formed the Council of the Evil One, as the six Amshashpands
+formed the council of Ormazd. Ako-mano, "the bad mind," or (literally)
+"the naught mind," was set over against Vohu-mano, "the good mind,"
+and was Ahriman's Grand Vizier. His special sphere was the mind of man,
+where he suggested evil thoughts, and prompted to bad words and wicked
+deeds. Indra, identical with the Vedic deity, but made a demon by the
+Zoroastrians, presided over storm and tempest, and governed the issues
+of war and battle. Qaurva and Naonhaitya were also Vedic deities turned
+into devils. It is difficult to assign them any distinct sphere.
+Taric and Zaric, "Darkness" and "Poison," had no doubt occupations
+corresponding with their names. Besides these chief demons, a countless
+host of evil genii (_divs_) and fairies (_pairicas_) awaited the orders
+and executed the behests of Ahriman.
+
+Placed between the two contending worlds of good and evil, man's
+position was one of extreme danger and difficulty. Originally set upon
+the earth by Ormazd in order to maintain the good creation, he was
+liable to the continual temptations and seductions of the divs or devas,
+who were "wicked, bad, false, untrue, the originators of mischief, most
+baneful, destructive, the basest of all things." A single act of sin
+gave them a hold upon him, and each subsequent act increased their
+power, until ultimately he became their mere tool and slave. It was
+however possible to resist temptation, to cling to the side of right, to
+defy and overcome the deltas. Man might maintain his uprightness, walk
+in the path of duty, and by the help of the asuras, or "good spirits,"
+attain to a blissful paradise.
+
+To arrive at this result, man had carefully to observe three principal
+duties. These were worship, agriculture, and purity. Worship consisted
+in the acknowledgment of the One True God, Ormazd, and of his Holy
+Angels, the Amesha Spentas or Amshashpands, in the frequent offering of
+prayers, praises, and thanksgivings, in the recitation of set hymns,
+the performance of a certain ceremony called the Homa, and in the
+occasional sacrifice of animals. The set hymns form a large portion
+of the Zendavesta, where they occur in the shape of Gathas, or Yashts,
+sometimes possessing considerable beauty. They are sometimes general,
+addressed to Ormazd and the Amesha Spentas in common, sometimes
+special, containing the praises of a particular deity. The Homa ceremony
+consisted in the extraction of the juice of the Homa plant by the
+priests during the recitation of prayers, the formal presentation of
+the liquor extracted to the sacrificial fire, the consumption of a small
+portion of it by one of the officiating priests, and the division of
+the remainder among the worshippers. As the juice was drunk immediately
+after extraction and before fermentation had set in, it was not
+intoxicating. The ceremony seems to have been regarded, in part,
+as having a mystic force, securing the favor of heaven; in part, as
+exerting a beneficial effect upon the body of the worshipper through the
+curative power inherent in the Homa plant. The animals which might be
+sacrificed were the horse, the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the horse
+being the favorite victim. A priest always performed the sacrifice,
+slaying the animal, and showing the flesh to the sacred fire by way of
+consecration, after which it was eaten at a solemn feast by the priest
+and people.
+
+It is one of the chief peculiarities of Zoroastrianism that it regarded
+agriculture as a religious duty. Man had been placed upon the earth
+especially "to maintain the good creation," and resist the endeavors of
+Ahriman to injure, and if possible, ruin it. This could only be done
+by careful tilling of the soil, eradication of thorns and weeds, and
+reclamation of the tracts over which Ahriman had spread the curse of
+barrenness. To cultivate the soil was thus incumbent upon all men;
+the whole community was required to be agricultural; and either as
+proprietor, as farmer, or as laboring man, each Zoroastrian was bound to
+"further the works of life" by advancing tillage.
+
+The purity which was required of the Zoroastrian was of two kinds, moral
+and legal, Moral purity comprised all that Christianity includes
+under it--truth, justice, chastity, and general sinlessness. It was
+coextensive with the whole sphere of human activity, embracing not only
+words and acts, but even the secret thoughts of the heart. Legal purity
+was to be obtained only by the observance of a multitude of trifling
+ceremonies and the abstinence from ten thousand acts in their nature
+wholly indifferent. Especially, everything was to be avoided which
+could be thought to pollute the four elements--all of them sacred to the
+Zoroastrian of Sassanian times--fire, water, earth, and air.
+
+Man's struggle after holiness and purity was sustained in the
+Zoroastrian system by the confident hope of a futurity of happiness.
+It was taught that the soul of man was immortal, and would continue to
+possess for ever a separate conscious existence. Immediately after death
+the spirits of both good and bad had to proceed along an appointed path
+to "the bridge of the gatherer" (_chinvat peretu_). This was a narrow
+road conducting to heaven or paradise, over which the souls of the pious
+alone could pass, while the wicked fell from it into the gulf below,
+where they found themselves in the place of punishment. The steps of
+the good were guided and supported by the angel Serosh--the "happy,
+well-formed, swift, tall Serosh"--who conducted them across the
+difficult passage into the heavenly region. There Bahman, rising from
+his throne, greeted them on their entrance with the salutation, "Happy
+thou who art come here to us from the mortality to the immortality!"
+Then they proceeded joyfully onward to the presence of Ormazd, to the
+immortal saints, to the golden throne, to paradise. As for the wicked,
+when they fell into the gulf, they found themselves in outer darkness,
+in the kingdom of Ahriman, where they were forced to remain and to feed
+on poisoned banquets.
+
+The priests of the Zoroastrians, from a time not long subsequent to
+Darius Hystaspis, were the Magi. This tribe, or caste, originally
+perhaps external to Zoroastrianism, had come to be recognized as a true
+priestly order; and was intrusted by the Sassanian princes with the
+whole control and direction of the religion of the state. Its chief was
+a personage holding a rank but very little inferior to the king. He bore
+the title of Tenpet, "Head of the Religion," or _Movpetan Movpet_, "Head
+of the Chief Magi." In times of difficulty and danger he was sometimes
+called upon to conduct a revolution; and in the ordinary course of
+things he was always reckoned among the monarch's chief counsellors.
+Next in rank to him were a number of _Movpets_, or "Chief Magi," called
+also _destoors_ or "rulers," who scarcely perhaps constituted an order,
+but still held an exalted position. Under these were, finally, a large
+body of ordinary Magi, dispersed throughout the empire, but especially
+congregated in the chief towns.
+
+The Magi officiated in a peculiar dress. This consisted of a tall peaked
+cap of felt or some similar material, having deep lappets at the side,
+which concealed the jaw and even the lips, and a long white robe, or
+cloak, descending to the ankles. They assembled often in large numbers,
+and marched in stately processions, impressing the multitude by a grand
+and striking ceremonial. Besides the offerings which were lavished upon
+them by the faithful, they possessed considerable endowments in land,
+which furnished them with an assured subsistence. They were allowed by
+Chosroes the First a certain administrative power in civil matters; the
+collection of the revenue was to take place under their supervision;
+they were empowered to interfere in cases of oppression, and protect the
+subject against the tax-gatherer.
+
+The Zoroastrian worship was intimately connected with fire-temples
+and fire-altars. A fire-temple was maintained in every important city
+throughout the empire; and in these a sacred flame, believed to have
+been lighted from heaven, was kept up perpetually, by the care of the
+priests, and was spoken of as "unextinguishable." Fire-altars probably
+also existed, independently of temples; and an erection of this kind
+maintained from first to last an honorable position on the Sassanian
+coins, being the main impress upon the reverse. It was represented with
+the flame rising from it, and sometimes with a head in the flame; its
+stem was ornamented with garlands or fillets; and on either side, as
+protectors or as worshippers, were represented two figures, sometimes
+watching the flame, sometimes turned from it, guarding it apparently
+from external enemies.
+
+Besides the sacerdotal, the Magi claimed to exercise the prophetical
+office. From a very early date they had made themselves conspicuous as
+omen-readers and dream-expounders; but, not content with such occasional
+exhibitions of prophetic power, they ultimately reduced divination to
+a system, and, by the help of the barsom or bundle of divining rods,
+undertook to return a true answer on all points connected with the
+future, upon which they might be consulted. Credulity is never wanting
+among Orientals; and the power of the priesthood was no doubt greatly
+increased by a pretension which was easily made, readily believed, and
+not generally discredited by failures, however numerous.
+
+The Magian priest was commonly seen with the barsom in his hand; but
+occasionally he exchanged that instrument for another, known as the
+_khrafgihraghna_. It was among the duties of the pious Zoroastrian, and
+more especially of those who were entrusted with the priestly office,
+to wage perpetual war with Ahriman, and to destroy his works whenever
+opportunity offered. Now among these, constituting a portion of "the bad
+creation," were all such animals as frogs, toads, snakes, newts, mice,
+lizards, flies, and the like. The Magi took every opportunity of killing
+such creatures; and the _Jchrafgthraghna_ was an implement which they
+invented for the sake of carrying out this pious purpose.
+
+The court of the Sassanian kings, especially in the later period of
+the empire, was arranged upon a scale of almost unexampled grandeur
+and magnificence. The robes worn by the Great King were beautifully
+embroidered, and covered with gems and pearls, which in some
+representations may be counted by hundreds. [PLATE XLV.] The royal
+crown, which could not be worn, but was hung from the ceiling by a gold
+chain exactly over the head of the king when he took his seat in his
+throne-room, is said to have been adorned with a thousand pearls, each
+as large as an egg. The throne itself was of gold, and was supported on
+four feet, each formed of a single enormous ruby. The great throne-room
+was ornamented with enormous columns of silver, between which were
+hangings of rich silk or brocade. The vaulted roof presented to the
+eye representations of the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, and the
+stars;no while globes, probably of crystal, or of burnished metal, hung
+suspended from it at various heights, lighting up the dark space as with
+a thousand lustres.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XLV.]
+
+
+The state observed at the court resembled that of the most formal and
+stately of the Oriental monarchies. The courtiers were organized in
+seven ranks. Foremost came the Ministers of the crown; next the Mobeds,
+or chief Magi; after them, the hirbeds, or judges; then the sipehbeds,
+or commanders-in chief, of whom there were commonly four; last of all
+the singers, musicians, and men of science, arranged in three orders.
+The king sat apart even from the highest nobles, who, unless summoned,
+might not approach nearer than thirty feet from him.
+
+A low curtain separated him from them, which was under the charge of an
+officer, who drew it for those only with whom the king had expressed a
+desire to converse.
+
+An important part of the palace was the seraglio. The polygamy practised
+by the Sassanian princes was on the largest scale that has ever been
+heard of, Chosroes II. having maintained, we are told, three thousand
+concubines. The modest requirements of so many secondary wives
+necessitated the lodging and sustenance of twelve thousand additional
+females, chiefly slaves, whose office was to attend on these royal
+favorites, attire them, and obey their behests. Eunuchs are not
+mentioned as employed to any large extent; but in the sculptures of
+the early princes they seem to be represented as holding offices of
+importance, and the analogy of Oriental courts does not allow us to
+doubt that the seraglio was, to some extent at any rate, under their
+superintendence. Each Sassanian monarch had one sultana or principal
+wife, who was generally a princess by birth, but might legally be of
+any origin. In one or two instances the monarch sets the effigy of his
+principal wife upon his coins; but this is unusual, and when, towards
+the close of the empire, females were allowed to ascend the throne, it
+is thought that they refrained from parading themselves in this way, and
+stamped their coins with the head of a male.
+
+In attendance upon the monarch were usually his parasol-bearer, his
+fan-bearer, who appears to have been a eunuch, the _Senelcapan,_ or
+"Lord Chamberlain," the _Maypet_, or "Chief Butler," the Andertzapet,
+or "Master of the Wardrobe," the _Alchorapet_, or "Master of the
+Horse," the _Taharhapet_ or "Chief Cupbearer," the _Shahpan_, or "Chief
+Falconer," and the __Krhogpet, or "Master of the Workmen." Except
+the parasol-bearer and fan-bearer, these officials all presided over
+departments, and had under them a numerous body of subordinates. If the
+royal stables contained even 8000 horses, which one monarch is said to
+have kept for his own riding, the grooms and stable-boys must have been
+counted by hundreds; and an equal or greater number of attendants must
+have been required for the camels and elephants, which are estimated
+m respectively at 1200 and 12,000. The "workmen" were also probably
+a corps of considerable size, continually engaged in repairs or in
+temporary or permanent erections.
+
+Other great officials, corresponding more nearly to the "Ministers" of
+a modern sovereign, were the _Vzourkhramanatar_, or "Grand Keeper of the
+Royal Orders," who held the post now known as that of _Grand Vizier_;
+the _Dprapet Ariats_, or "Chief of the Scribes of Iran," a sort of
+Chancellor; the _Hazarapet dran Ariats_, or "Chiliarch of the Gate
+of Iran," a principal Minister; the _Hamarakar_, a "Chief Cashier" or
+"Paymaster;" and the _Khohrdean dpir_, or "Secretary of Council," a sort
+of Privy Council clerk or registrar. The native names of these officers
+are known to us chiefly through the Armenian writers of the fifth and
+seventh centuries.
+
+The Sassanian court, though generally held at Ctesiphon, migrated to
+other cities, if the king so pleased, and is found established, at
+one time in the old Persian capital, Persepolis, at another in the
+comparatively modern city of Dastaghord. The monarchs maintained from
+first to last numerous palaces, which they visited at their pleasure and
+made their residence for a longer or a shorter period. Four such palaces
+have been already described; and there is reason to believe that many
+others existed in various parts of the empire. There was certainly one
+of great magnificence at Canzaca; and several are mentioned as occupied
+by Heraclius in the country between the Lower Zab and Ctesiphon.
+Chosroes II. undoubtedly built one near Takht-i-Bostan; and Sapor the
+First must have had one at Shapur, where he set up the greater portion
+of his monuments. The discovery of the Mashita palace, in a position
+so little inviting as the land of Moab, seems to imply a very general
+establishment of royal residences in the remote provinces of the empire.
+
+The costume of the later Persians is known to us chiefly from the
+representations of the kings, on whose figures alone have the native
+artists bestowed much attention. In peace, the monarch seems to have
+worn a sort of pelisse or long coat, partially open in front, and with
+close-fitting sleeves reaching to the wrist, under which he had a pair
+of loose trousers descending to the feet and sometimes even covering
+them. A belt or girdle encircled his waist. His feet were encased in
+patterned shoes, tied with long flowing ribbons. Over his pelisse he
+wore occasionally a long cape or short cloak, which was fastened with
+a brooch or strings across the breast and flowed over the back and
+shoulders. The material composing the cloak was in general exceedingly
+light and flimsy. The head-dress commonly worn seems to have been
+a round cap, which was perhaps ornamented with jewels. The vest and
+trousers were also in some cases richly jewelled. Every king wore
+ear-rings, with one, two, or three pendants. A collar or necklace was
+also commonly worn round the neck; and this had sometimes two or more
+pendants in front. Occasionally the beard was brought to a point and had
+a jewel hanging from it. The hair seems always to have been worn long;
+it was elaborately curled, and hung down on either shoulder in numerous
+ringlets. When the monarch rode out in state, an attendant held the
+royal parasol over him.
+
+In war the monarch encased the upper part of his person in a coat of
+mail, composed of scales or links. Over this he wore three belts; the
+first, which crossed the breast diagonally, was probably attached to his
+shield, which might be hung from it; the second supported his sword;
+and the third his quiver, and perhaps his bow-case. A stiff, embroidered
+trouser of great fulness protected the leg, while the head was guarded
+by a helmet, and a vizor of chain mail hid all the face but the eyes.
+The head and fore-quarters of the royal charger were also covered with
+armor, which descended below the animal's knees in front, but was not
+carried back behind the rider. The monarch's shield was round, and
+carried on the left arm; his main offensive weapon was a heavy spear,
+which he brandished in his right hand.
+
+One of the favorite pastimes of the kings was hunting. The Sassanian
+remains show us the royal sportsmen engaged in the pursuit of the
+stag, the wild boar, the ibex, the antelope, and the buffalo. To this
+catalogue of their beasts of chase the classical writers add the lion,
+the tiger, the wild ass, and the bear. Lions, tigers, bears, and wild
+asses were, it appears, collected for the purpose of sport, and kept in
+royal parks or paradises until a hunt was determined on. The monarchs
+then engaged in the sport in person, either singly or in conjunction
+with a royal ambassador, or perhaps of a favorite minister, or a few
+friends. The lion was engaged hand to hand with sword or spear; the more
+dangerous tiger was attacked from a distance with arrows. Stags and
+wild boars were sufficiently abundant to make the keeping of them in
+paradises unnecessary. When the king desired to hunt them, it was only
+requisite to beat a certain extent of country in order to make sure of
+finding the game. This appears to have been done generally by elephants,
+which entered the marshes or the woodlands, and, spreading themselves
+wide, drove the animals before them towards an enclosed space,
+surrounded by a net or a fence, where the king was stationed with his
+friends and attendants. If the tract was a marsh, the monarch occupied
+a boat, from which he quietly took aim at the beasts that came within
+shot. Otherwise he pursued the game on horseback, and transfixed it
+while riding at full speed. In either case he seems to have joined to
+the pleasures of the chase the delights of music. Bands of harpers and
+other musicians were placed near him within the enclosure, and he could
+listen to their strains while he took his pastime.
+
+The musical instruments which appear distinctly on the Sassanian
+sculptures are the harp, the horn, the drum, and the flute or pipe. The
+harp is triangular, and has seven strings; it is held in the lap, and
+played apparently by both hands. The drum is of small size. The horns
+and pipes are too rudely represented for their exact character to be
+apparent. Concerted pieces seem to have been sometimes played by harpers
+only, of whom as many as ten or twelve joined in the execution. Mixed
+bands were more numerous. In one instance the number of performers
+amounts to twenty-six, of whom seven play the harp, an equal number
+the flute or pipe, three the horn, one the drum, while eight are too
+slightly rendered for their instruments to be recognized. A portion of
+the musicians occupy an elevated orchestra, to which there is access by a
+flight of steps.
+
+There is reason to believe that the Sassanian monarchs took a pleasure
+also in the pastime of hawking. It has been already noticed that among
+the officers of the court was a "Head Falconer," who must have presided
+over this species of sport. Hawking was of great antiquity in the East,
+and appears to have been handed down uninterruptedly from remote times
+to the present day. We may reasonably conjecture that the ostriches and
+pheasants, if not the peacocks also, kept in the royal preserves, were
+intended to be used in this pastime, the hawks being flown at them if
+other game proved to be scarce.
+
+The monarchs also occasionally amused themselves in their leisure hours
+by games. The introduction of chess from India by the great Chosroes
+(Anushirwan) has already been noticed; and some authorities state
+that the same monarch brought into use also a species of tric-trac or
+draughts. Unfortunately we have no materials for determining the exact
+form of the game in either case, the Sassanian remains containing no
+representation of such trivial matters.
+
+In the character of their warfare, the Persians of the Sassanian period
+did not greatly differ from the same people under the Achaemenian kings.
+The principal changes which time had brought about were an almost entire
+disuse of the war chariot, [PLATE XLVI. Fig. 3.] and the advance of the
+elephant corps into a very prominent and important position. Four main
+arms of the service were recognized, each standing on a different level:
+viz. the elephants, the horse, the archers, and the ordinary footmen.
+The elephant corps held the first position. It was recruited from India,
+but was at no time very numerous. Great store was set by it; and in some
+of the earlier battles against the Arabs the victory was regarded as
+gained mainly by this arm of the service. It acted with best effect in
+an open and level district; but the value put upon it was such that,
+however rough, mountainous, and woody the country into which the Persian
+arms penetrated, the elephant always accompanied the march of the
+Persian troops, and care was taken to make roads by which it could
+travel. The elephant corps was under a special chief, known as the
+_Zend-hapet_, or "Commander of the Indians," either because the beasts
+came from that country, or because they were managed by natives of
+Hindustan.
+
+
+[Illustration: PLATE XLVI.]
+
+
+The Persian cavalry in the Sassanian period seems to have been almost
+entirely of the heavy kind. [PLATE XLVI., Fig. 4.] We hear nothing
+during these centuries of those clouds of light horse which, under the
+earlier Persian and under the Parthian monarchy, hung about invading or
+retreating armies, countless in their numbers, agile in their movements,
+a terrible annoyance at the best of times, and a fearful peril under
+certain circumstances. The Persian troops which pursued Julian were
+composed of heavily armed cavalry, foot archers, and elephants; and
+the only light horse of which we have any mention during the disastrous
+retreat of his army are the Saracenic allies of Sapor. In these
+auxiliaries, and in the Cadusians from the Caspian region, the Persians
+had always, when they wished it, a cavalry excellently suited for light
+service; but their own horse during the Sassanian period seems to have
+been entirely of the heavy kind, armed and equipped, that is, very much
+as Chosroes II. is seen to bo at Takht-i-Bostan. The horses themselves
+wore heavily armored about their head, neck, and chest; the rider wore a
+coat of mail which completely covered his body as far as the hips, and a
+strong helmet, with a vizor, which left no part of the face exposed but
+the eyes. He carried a small round shield on his left arm, and had for
+weapons a heavy spear, a sword, and a bow and arrows. He did not fear a
+collision with the best Roman troops. The Sassanian horse often charged
+the infantry of the legions with success, and drove it headlong from
+the field of battle. In time of peace, the royal guards were more simply
+accoutred. [See PLATE XLVI.]
+
+The archers formed the elite of the Persian infantry. They were trained
+to deliver their arrows with extreme rapidity, and with an aim that was
+almost unerring. The huge wattled shields, adopted by the Achaemenian
+Persians from the Assyrians, still remained in use; and from behind a
+row of these, rested upon the ground and forming a sort of loop-holed
+wall, the Sassanian bowmen shot their weapons with great effect; nor
+was it until their store of arrows was exhausted that the Romans,
+ordinarily, felt themselves upon even terms with their enemy. Sometimes
+the archers, instead of thus fighting in line, were intermixed with the
+heavy horse, with which it was not difficult for them to keep pace. They
+galled the foe with their constant discharges from between the ranks
+of the horsemen, remaining themselves in comparative security, as the
+legions rarely ventured to charge the Persian mailed cavalry. If they
+were forced to retreat, they still shot backwards as they fled; and it
+was a proverbial saying with the Romans that they were then especially
+formidable.
+
+The ordinary footmen seem to have been armed with swords and spears,
+perhaps also with darts. They were generally stationed behind the
+archers, who, however, retired through their ranks when close fighting
+began. They had little defensive armor; but still seem to have fought
+with spirit and tenacity, being a fair match for the legionaries under
+ordinary circumstances, and superior to most other adversaries.
+
+It is uncertain how the various arms of the service were organized
+internally. We do not hear of any divisions corresponding to the Roman
+legions or to modern regiments; yet it is difficult to suppose that
+there were not some such bodies. Perhaps each satrap of a province
+commanded the troops raised within his government, taking the actual
+lead of the cavalry or the infantry at his discretion. The Crown
+doubtless appointed the commanders-in-chief--the _Sparapets, Spaha-pets,
+or Sipehbeds_, as well as the other generals (_arzbeds_), the head of
+the commissariat (_hambarapet_ or _hambarahapet_), and the commander of
+the elephants (_zendkapet_). The satraps may have acted as colonels of
+regiments under the arzbeds, and may probably have had the nomination of
+the subordinate (regimental) officers.
+
+The great national standard was the famous "leathern apron of the
+blacksmith," originally unadorned, but ultimately covered with jewels,
+which has been described in a former chapter. This precious palladium
+was, however, but rarely used, its place being supplied for the most
+part by standards of a more ordinary character. These appear by the
+monuments to have been of two kinds. Both consisted primarily of a pole
+and a cross-bar; but in the one kind the crossbar sustained a single
+ring with a bar athwart it, while below depended two woolly tassels; in
+the other, three striated balls rose from the cross-bar, while below the
+place of the tassels was taken by two similar balls. It is difficult to
+say what these emblems symbolized, or why they were varied. In both the
+representations where they appear the standards accompany cavalry,
+so that they cannot reasonably be assigned to different arms of
+the service. That the number of standards carried into battle was
+considerable may be gathered from the fact that on one occasion, when
+the defeat sustained was not very complete, a Persian army left in the
+enemy's hands as many as twenty-eight of them.
+
+During the Sassanian period there was nothing very remarkable in the
+Persian tactics. The size of armies generally varied from 30,000 to
+60,000 men, though sometimes 100,000, and on one occasion as many as
+140,000, are said to have been assembled. The bulk of the troops were
+footmen, the proportion of the horse probably never equalling one third
+of a mixed army. Plundering expeditions were sometimes undertaken
+by bodies of horse alone; but serious invasions were seldom or never
+attempted unless by a force complete in all arms; comprising, that
+is, horse, foot, elephants, and artillery. To attack the Romans to any
+purpose, it was always necessary to engage in the siege of towns; and
+although, in the earlier period of the Sassanian monarchy, a certain
+weakness and inefficiency in respect of sieges manifested itself, yet
+ultimately the difficulty was overcome, and the Persian expeditionary
+armies, well provided with siege trains, compelled the Roman fortresses
+to surrender within a reasonable time. It is remarkable that in the
+later period so many fortresses were taken with apparently so little
+difficulty--Daras, Mardin, Amida, Carrhse, Edessa, Hierapolis, Berhasa,
+Theodosiopolis, Antioch, Damascus, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Caesaraea
+Mazaca, Chalcedon; the siege of none lasting more than a few months, or
+costing the assailants very dear. The method used in sieges was to open
+trenches at a certain distance from the walls, and to advance along
+them under cover of hurdles to the ditch, and fill it up with earth and
+fascines. Escalade might then be attempted; or movable towers, armed
+with rams or balistae, might be brought up close to the walls, and the
+defences battered till a breach was effected. Sometimes mounds were
+raised against the walls to a certain height, so that their upper
+portion, which was their weakest part, might be attacked, and either
+demolished or escaladed. If towns resisted prolonged attacks of this
+kind, the siege was turned into a blockade, lines of circumvallation
+being drawn round the place, water cut off, and provisions prevented
+from entering. Unless a strong relieving army appeared in the field, and
+drove off the assailants, this plan was tolerably sure to be successful.
+
+Not much is known of the private life of the later Persians. Besides the
+great nobles and court officials, the strength of the nation consisted
+in its _dilchans_ or landed proprietors, who for the most part lived on
+their estates, seeing after the cultivation of the soil, and employing
+thereon the free labor of the peasants. It was from these classes
+chiefly that the standing army was recruited, and that great levies
+might always be made in time of need. Simple habits appear to have
+prevailed among them; polygamy, though lawful, was not greatly in use;
+the maxims of Zoroaster, which commanded industry, purity, and piety,
+were fairly observed. Women seem not to have been kept in seclusion,
+or at any rate not in such seclusion as had been the custom under
+the Parthians, and as again became usual under the Arabs. The general
+condition of the population was satisfactory. Most of the Sassanian
+monarchs seem to have been desirous of governing well; and the system
+inaugurated by Anushirwan, and maintained by his successors, secured
+the subjects of the Great King from oppression, so far as was possible
+without representative government. Provincial rulers were well watched
+and well checked; tax-gatherers were prevented from exacting more than
+their due by a wholesale dread that their conduct would be reported
+and punished; great pains were taken that justice should be honestly
+administered; and in all cases where an individual felt aggrieved at
+a sentence an appeal lay to the king. On such occasions the cause was
+re-tried in open court, at the gate, or in the great square; the king,
+the Magi, and the great lords hearing it, while the people were also
+present. The entire result seems to have been that, so far as was
+possible under a despotism, oppression was prevented, and the ordinary
+citizen had rarely any ground for serious complaint.
+
+But it was otherwise with the highest class of all. The near relations
+of the monarch, the great officers of the court, the generals who
+commanded armies, were exposed without defence to the monarch's caprice,
+and held their lives and liberties at his pleasure. At a mere word
+or sign from him they were arrested, committed to prison, tortured,
+blinded, or put to death, no trial being thought necessary where the
+king chose to pronounce sentence. The intrinsic evils of despotism thus
+showed themselves even under the comparatively mild government of the
+Sassanians; but the class exposed to them was a small one, and enjoyed
+permanent advantages, which may have been felt as some compensation to
+it for its occasional sufferings.
+
+
+[Illustration: FAMILY-TREE]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The
+Ancient Eastern World, Vol 7. (of 7): The Sassanian or New Persian Empire, by George Rawlinson
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