'from the power of the Greatv Kingso.

proved by art and military skill. Four of these,

to the north of the river, were districts of obscure fame and inconsiderable extent; Intiline, Zabdicene, Arzanene, and Moxoene: but on the east of the Tigris, the empire acquired the large and mountainous territory of Carduene, the ancient seat of the Carduchians, who preserved for many ages their manly freedom in the heart of the despotic monarchies of Asia. The ten thousand Greeks traversed their country, after a painful march, or rather engagement, of seven days; and it is confessed by their leader, in his incomparable relation of the retreat, that they suffered more from the arrows of the Carduchians, than Their posterity, the Curds, with very little alteration either of name or manners, acknowledged the nominal sOVereignty of the Turkish sultan. lII. It is almost needless to observe, that Tiridates, the faithful ally of Rome, was restored to the throne of his fathers, and that the rights of the Imperial supremacy were fully asserted and secured. The limits of Armenia were extended as far as the fortress of Sintha in Media, and this increase of dominion was not so much an act of liberality as of justice. Of the provinces already mentioned beyond the Tigris, the four first had been dismembered by the Parthians from sithe

70 Xenophon's Anabasis, l. iv. Their bows were three cubits in length, their arrows two; they rolled down stones that were each a waggon load. The Greeks found a great many villages in

that rude country.

crown'

crown of Armenia" ; and when the Romans ac- C HA P. quired the Possession of them, they stipulated, at the expence of the usurpers, an ample compensation, which invested their ally with the exten

'five and fertile country of Atropatene. Its prin.

cipal city, in the same situation perhaps as the modern Tauris, was frequently honoured with

the refidence of Tiridates; and as it sometimes

bore the name of Ecbatana, he imitated, in the buildings and fortifications, the splendid capital

of the Medes **. IV. The country of Iberia was lbcria. barren, its inhabitants rude and savage. But

they were accustomed to the use of arms, and

they separated from the empire barbarians much fiercer and more formidable than themselves.

The narrow, defiles of Mount Caucasus were in

their hands, and it was in their choice, either to

admit or to exclude the wandering tribes of Sarmatia, whenever a rapacious spirit urged them

to penetrate into the richer climates of the South '3.

The nomination of the kings of Iberia, which

was resigned by the Persian monarch to the emperors, contributed to the strength and security

of the Roman power in Asia". The East en

31 According to Entropius (vi. 9. as the text is represented by the best MSS.), the city of Tigranocerta was in Arzanene. The names and situation of the 0-.her three may be faintly traced.

3'- Compare Hcrodotus, l. i. c. 97. with Moses Choronens. Hist. Armen. l. ii. c. 84. and the map of Armenia given by his editors.

83 Hiberi, locorum potentes, Caspia Via Sarmatam in Armenios raptim effundunt. Tacit. Annal. vi. 34. See Strabon. Geograph. I. xi. p. 764.

84 Peter Patricins (in Excerpt. Leg. p. 30.) is the only writer who mentions the Ibcrian article of the treaty.

joyed

c H A P. joyed a profound tranquillity during forty years ; *

Triumph of Diocletian Mamfrlnian. . A. D. 303. Nov. zo.

and the treaty between the rival monarchies was strictly observed till the death of Tiridates ; when a new generation, animated with different views 'and different passions, succeeded to the government of the world; and the grandson of Narses undertook a long and memorable war against the princes of the house of Constantine. A

The arduous work of rescuing the distressed empire from tyrants and barbarians had now been completely atchieved by a succeffion of Illyrian peasants. As soon as Diocletian entered into the twentieth year of his reign, he celebrated that memorable aera, as well as the success of his arms, by the pomp os a Roman triumph "5, Maximian, the equal partner of his power, was his only companion in the glory of that day. The two Casars had fought and conquered, but the merit of their exploits was ascribed, according to the rigour of ancient maxims, to the auspicious influence of their fathers and emperors 36. The triumph of Diocletian and Maximian was less magnificent perhaps than those of Aurelian andPrObus, butlit was dignified by several circumstances of superior fame and good fortune. Africa and Britain, the Rhine,. the Danube, and the Nile, furnished their respective trophies; but the most distinguished ornament wasctof a'more

singular nature, a Perfian victory followed by- anv

important conquest. The representations of ri

vers, "mountains, and provinces, were carried.

before the Imperial car. The images of the captive wives, the sisters, and the children of the Great King, afforded a new and grateful spectacle to the vanity of the people "7. In the eyes of posterity this triumph is remarkable, by a distinction of a less honourable kind. It was the last that Rome ever beheld. Soon after this period, the emperors ceased to vanquish, and Rome ceased to be the capital of the empire.

The spot on which Rome was founded, hadvbeen consecrated by ancient ceremonies and imaginary miracles. The presence of some god, or the memory of some hero, seemed to animate every part of the city, and the empire of the world had been promised to the Capitol as. The native Romans felt and confessed the power of this agreeable illusion. It was derived from their ancestors, had grown up with their earliest

other '9. But the sovereignty of the capital was gradually annihilated in the extent of conquest; the provinces rose to the same level, and thevanquished nations acquired the name and privileges, without imbibing the partial affections, of Romans. During a long period, however, the remains of the ancient constitution, and the influence of custom, preserved 'the dignity os Rome. The emperors, though perhaps of African or Illyrian extraction, respected their adopted country, as the seat of their power, and the centre of their extenfive dominions. The emeru gencies of war very frequently required their presence on the frontiers; but Diocletian andv Maximian were the first Roman princes who fixed, in time of peace, their ordinary residence in the provinces; and their conduct, however it might be suggested by' private motives, was justifiedv by very: specious- confiderations of policy, The court of the emperor of the West was, for the most part, established at Milan, whose situ'

_ ation, at the foot of the Alps, appeared far;

more convenient than that of Rome, for the important purpose of watching the motions of the barbarians of Germany. Milan soon assume_d{ the spiendour of an imperial city. The houses are described as numerous and well

89 Julius Caesar was reproached with the intention of removing the empire to llium or Alexandria. See Sueton. in Caesar. c. 79. According to the ingenious conjecture of Le Fevre and Dacier, the third ode of the third book of Horacewas intended to divert Augustu' from the execution of a similar design.

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