His last war with the Romans, A. D. 572, &c.

arrows, prolonged their line, and extended their
wings across the plain; while the Romans, in deep
and solid bodies, expected to prevail in closer
action, by the weight of their swords and lances.
A Scythian chief, who commanded their right wing,
suddenly turned the flank of the enemy, attacked
their rear-guard in the presence of Chosroes, pene-
trated to the midst of the camp, pillaged the royal
tent, profaned the eternal fire, loaded a train of
camels with the spoils of Asia, cut his way through
the Persian host, and returned with songs of victory
to bis friends, who had consumed the day in single
combats, or ineffectual skirmishes. The darkness
of the night, and the separation of the Romans,
afforded the Persian monarch an opportunity of
revenge; and one of their camps was swept away
by a rapid and impetuous assault. But the review
of his loss, and the consciousness of his danger,
determined Chosroes to a speedy retreat': he burnt,
in his passage, the vacant town of Melitene; and,
without consulting the safety of his troops, boldly
swam the Euphrates on the back of an elephant.
After this unsuccessful campaign, the want of
magazines, and perhaps some inroad of the Turks,
obliged, him to disband or divide his forces: the
Romans were left masters of the field, and their
general, Justinian, advancing to the relief of the
Persarmenian rebels, erected his standard on the
banks of the Araxes. The great Pompey had
formerly halted within three days' march of the
Caspian: that inland sea was explored, for the first
time, by a hostile fleet, and seventy thousand
captives were transplanted from Hyrcania to the
isle of Cyprus. On the return of spring, Justinian
descended into the fertile plains of Assyria, the
flames of war approached the residence of Nusbir-
the indignant monarch sunk into His death,
the grave, and his last edict restrained
his successors from exposing their person in a battle
against the Romans. Yet the memory of this
transient affront was lost in the glories of a long
reign; and his formidable enemies, after indulging
their dream of conquest, again solicited a short
respite from the calamities of war.s

great Nushirvan. But the nephew of Justinian | barbarians, who darkened the air with a cloud of declared his resolution to avenge the injuries of his christian ally the prince of Abyssinia, as they suggested a decent pretence to discontinue the annual tribute, which was poorly disguised by the name of pension. The churches of Persarmenia were oppressed by the intolerant spirit of the Magi; they secretly invoked the protector of the christians, and after the pious murder of their satraps, the rebels were avowed and supported as the brethren and subjects of the Roman emperor. The complaints of Nushirvan were disregarded by the Byzantine court; Justin yielded to the importuni- | ties of the Turks, who offered an alliance against the common enemy; and the Persian monarchy was threatened at the same instant by the united forces of Europe, of Æthiopia, and of Scythia. At the age of fourscore the sovereign of the east would perhaps have chosen the peaceful enjoyment of his glory and greatness; but as soon as war became inevitable, he took the field with the alacrity of youth, whilst the aggressor trembled in the palace of Constantinople. Nushirvan, or Chosroes, conducted in person the siege of Dara; and although that important fortress had been left destitute of troops and magazines, the valour of the inhabitants resisted above five months the archers, the elephants, and the military engines of the great king. In the meanwhile his general Adarman advanced from Babylon, traversed the desert, passed the Euphrates, insulted the suburbs of Antioch, reduced to ashes the city of Apamea, and laid the spoils of Syria at the feet of his master, whose perseverance in the midst of winter at length subverted the bulwark of the east. But these losses, which astonished the provinces and the court, produced a salutary effect in the repentance and abdication of the emperor Justin: a new spirit arose in the Byzantine councils ; and a truce of three years was obtained by the prudence of Tiberius. That seasonable interval was employed in the preparations of war; and the voice of rumour proclaimed to the world, that from the distant countries of the Alps and the Rhine, from Scythia, Mæsia, Pannonia, Illyricum, and Isauria, the strength of the imperial cavalry was reinforced with one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. Yet the king of Persia, without fear, or without faith, resolved to prevent the attack of the enemy: again passed the Euphrates, and dismissing the ambassadors of Tiberius, arrogantly commanded them to await his arrival at Cæsarea, the metropolis of the Cappadocian provinces. The two armies encountered each other in the battle of Melitene: the

d D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. p. 477. Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 64, 65. Father Pagi (Critica, tom. ii. p. 646.) has proved that, after ten years' peace, the Persian war, which continued twenty years, was renewed A. D. 571. Mahomet was born A. D. 569, in the year of the elephant, or the defeat of Abrahah; (Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 89, 90. 98.) and this account allows two years for the conquest of Yemen.

e He had vanquished the Albanians, who brought into the field 12,000 horse and 60,000 foot; but he dreaded the multitude of venomous reptiles, whose existence may admit of some doubt, as well as that of the neighbouring Amazons. Plutarch, in Pompeio, tom. ii. p. 1165, 1166.

van,

A. D. 579.

The throne of Chosroes Nushirvan Tyranny and was filled by Hormouz, or Hormisdas, vices of his son the eldest or the most favoured of his A. D. 579–590.

sons.

Hormouz,

With the kingdoms of Persia and India, he inherited the reputation and example of his father, the service, in every rank, of his wise and valiant officers, and a general system of administration, harmonized by time and political wisdom to promote the happiness of the prince and people. But the f In the history of the world I can only perceive two navies on the Caspian: 1. Of the Macedonians, when Patrocles, the admiral of the kings of Syria, Seleucus and Antiochus, descended most probably the river Oxus, from the confines of India. (Plin. Hist. Natur. vi. 21.) 2. Of the Russians, when Peter the first conducted a fleet and army from the neighbourhood of Moscow to the coast of Persia. (Bell's Travels, vol. ii. p. 325-352.) He justly observes, that such martial pomp had never been displayed on the Volga.

g

For these Persian wars and treaties, see Menander, in Excerpt. Legat. p. 113-125. Theophanes Byzant. apud Photium, cod. Ixiv, p. 77. 80, 81. Evagrius, 1. v. c. 7-15. Theophylact, l. iii. c. 9—16, Agathias, l. iv. p. 140.

royal youth enjoyed a still more valuable blessing, | must terminate in rebellion; but he forgot that his the friendship of a sage who had presided over his education, and who always preferred the honour to the interest of his pupil, his interest to his inclination. In a dispute with the Greek and Indian philosophers, Buzurgh had once maintained, that the most grievous misfortune of life is old age without the remembrance of virtue; and our candour will presume that the same principle compelled him, during three years, to direct the councils of the Persian empire. His zeal was rewarded by the gratitude and docility of Hormouz, who acknowledged himself more indebted to his preceptor than to his parent: but when age and labour had impaired the strength, and perhaps the faculties, of this prudent counsellor, he retired from court, and abandoned the youthful monarch to his own passions and those of his favourites. By the fatal vicissitude of human affairs, the same scenes were renewed at Ctesiphon, which had been exhibited in Rome after the death of Marcus Antoninus. The ministers of flattery and corruption, who had been banished by the father, were recalled and cherished by the son; the disgrace and exile of the friends of Nushirvan established their tyranny; and virtue was driven by degrees from the mind of Hormouz, from his palace, and from the government of the state. The faithful agents, the eyes and ears of the king, informed him of the progress of disorder, that the provincial governors flew to their prey with the fierceness of lions and eagles, and that their rapine and injustice would teach the most loyal of his subjects to abhor the name and authority of their sovereign. The sincerity of this advice was punished with death, the murmurs of the cities were despised, their tumults were quelled by military execution; the intermediate powers between the throne and the people were abolished; and the childish vanity of Hormouz, who affected the daily use of the tiara, was fond of declaring, that he alone would be the judge as well as the master of his kingdom. In every word, and in every action, the son of Nushirvan degenerated from the virtues of his father. His avarice defrauded the troops; his jealous caprice degraded the satraps: the palace, the tribunals, the waters of the Tigris, were stained with the blood of the innocent, and the tyrant exulted in the sufferings and execution of thirteen thousand victims. As the excuse of his cruelty, he sometimes condescended to observe, that the fears of the Persians would be productive of hatred, and that their hatred

h Buzurg Mihir may be considered, in his character and station, as the Seneca of the east; but his virtues, and perhaps his faults, are less known than those of the Roman, who appears to have been much more loquacious. The Persian sage was the person who imported from India the game of chess and the fables of Pilpay. Such has been the fame of his wisdom and virtues, that the christians claim him as a believer in the gospel; and the Mahometans revere Buzurg as a premature Mussul. man. D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 218.

iSee the imitation of Scipio in Theophylact, 1. i. c. 14.; the image of Christ, I. ii. c. 3. Hereafter I shall speak more amply of the christian images-I had almost said idols. This, if I am not mistaken, is the oldest axeipomoitos of divine manufacture; but in the next thousand years, many others issued from the same workshop.

k Raga, or Rei, is mentioned in the apocryphal book of Tobit as already flourishing, 700 years before Christ, under the Assyrian empire. Under the foreign names of Europus and Arsacia, this city, 500 stadia

own guilt and folly had inspired the sentiments
which he deplored, and prepared the event which
he so justly apprehended. Exasperated by long
and hopeless oppression, the provinces of Babylon,
Susa, and Carmania erected the standard of revolt;
and the princes of Arabia, India, and Scythia, re-
fused the customary tribute to the unworthy succes-
sor of Nushirvan. The arms of the Romans, in
slow sieges and frequent inroads, afflicted the
frontiers of Mesopotamia and Assyria; one of their
generals professed himself the disciple of Scipio,
and the soldiers were animated by a miraculous
image of Christ, whose mild aspect should never
have been displayed in the front of battle. At the
same time, the eastern provinces of Persia were in-
vaded by the great khan, who passed the Oxus at
the head of three or four hundred thousand Turks.
The imprudent Hormouz accepted their perfidious
and formidable aid; the cities of Khorasan or Bac-
triana were commanded to open their gates; the
march of the barbarians towards the mountains of
Hyrcania revealed the correspondence of the Turk-
ish and Roman arms; and their union must have
subverted the throne of the house of Sassan.
Persia had been lost by a king; it
was saved by a hero. After his revolt,
Varanes or Bahram is stigmatized by
the son of Hormouz as an ungrateful slave: the
proud and ambiguous reproach of despotism, since
he was truly descended from the ancient princes of
Rei, one of the seven families whose splendid as
well as substantial prerogatives exalted them above
the heads of the Persian nobility.' At the siege of
Dara, the valour of Bahram was signalized under
the eyes of Nushirvan, and both the father and son
successively promoted him to the command of armies,
the government of Media, and the superintendence
of the palace. The popular prediction which mark-
ed him as the deliverer of Persia might be inspired
by his past victories and extraordinary figure: the
epithet Giubin is expressive of the quality of dry
wood; he had the strength and stature of a giant,
and his savage countenance was fancifully com-
pared to that of a wild cat. While the nation
trembled, while Hormouz disguised his terror by
the name of suspicion, and his servants concealed
their disloyalty under the mask of fear, Bahram
alone displayed his undaunted courage and appa-
rent fidelity and as soon as he found that no more
than twelve thousand soldiers would follow him

:

Exploits of Bah

ram, A. D. 590.

to the south of the Caspian gates, was successively embellished by the Macedonians and Parthians. (Strabo, I. xi. p. 796.) Its grandeur and populousness in the ninth century is exaggerated beyond the bounds of credibility; but Rei has been since ruined by wars and the unwholesomeness of the air. Chardin, Voyage en Perse, tom. i. p. 279, 280. D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Oriental. p. 714.

1 Theophylact, l. iii. c. 18. The story of the seven Persians is told in the third book of Herodotus; and their noble descendants are often mentioned, especially in the fragments of Ctesias. Yet the independ ence of Otanes (Herodot. 1. iii. c. 83, 84.) is hostile to the spirit of despotism, and it may not seem probable that the seven families could survive the revolutions of eleven hundred years. They might however be represented by the seven ministers; (Brisson, de Regno Persico, 1. i. p. 190.) and some Persian nobles, like the kings of Pontus (Polyb. I. v. p. 540.) and Cappadocia, (Diodor. Sicul. 1. xxxi. tom. ii. p. 517.) might claim their descent from the bold companions of Darius.

against the enemy, he prudently declared, that to | ard of Bahram; and the provinces again saluted this fatal number heaven had reserved the honours the deliverer of his country. of the triumph. The steep and narrow descent of the Pule Rudbarm or Hyrcanian rock, is the only pass through which an army can penetrate into the territory of Rei and the plains of Media. From the commanding heights, a band of resolute men might overwhelm with stones and darts the myriads of the Turkish host: their emperor and his son were transpierced with arrows; and the fugitives were left, without counsel or provisions, to the revenge of an injured people. The patriotism of the Persian general was stimulated by his affection for the city of his forefathers; in the hour of victory every peasant became a soldier, and every soldier a hero; and their ardour was kindled by the gorgeous spectacle of beds, and thrones, and tables of massy gold, the spoils of Asia, and the luxury of the hostile camp. A prince of a less malignant temper could not easily have forgiven his benefactor, and the secret hatred of Hormouz was envenomed by a malicious report, that Bahram had privately retained the most precious fruits of his Turkish victory. But the approach of a Roman army on the side of the Araxes compelled the implacable tyrant to smile and to applaud; and the toils of Bahram were rewarded with the permission of encountering a new enemy, by their skill and discipline more formidable than a Scythian multitude. Elated by his recent success, he despatched a herald with a bold defiance to the camp of the Romans, requesting them to fix a day of battle, and to choose whether they would pass the river themselves, or allow a free passage to the arms of the great king. The lieutenant of the emperor Maurice preferred the safer alternative, and this local circumstance, which would have enhanced the victory of the Persians, rendered their defeat more bloody and their escape more difficult. But the loss of his subjects, and the danger of his kingdom, were overbalanced in the mind of Hormouz by the disgrace of his personal enemy; and no sooner had Bahram collected and reviewed his forces, than he received from a royal messenger the insulting gift of a distaff, a spinning- | wheel, and a complete suit of female apparel. Obedient to the will of his sovereign, he showed himself to the soldiers in this unworthy disguise: they resented his ignominy and their own; a shout of rebellion ran through the ranks, and the general accepted their oaths of fidelity and vows of revenge. A second messenger, who had been His rebellion. commanded to bring the rebel in chains, was trampled under the feet of an elephant, and manifestos were diligently circulated, exhorting the Persians to assert their freedom against an odious and contemptible tyrant. The defection was rapid and universal: his loyal slaves were sacrificed to the public fury; the troops deserted to the stand

m See an accurate description of this mountain by Olearius, (Voyage en Perse, p. 997, 998.) who ascended it with much difficulty and danger in his return from Ispahan to the Caspian sea.

|

As the passes were faithfully guard- Hormouz is deed, Hormouz could only compute the posed and imnumber of his enemies by the testi- prisoned. mony of a guilty conscience, and the daily defection of those who, in the hour of his distress, avenged their wrongs, or forgot their obligations. He proudly displayed the ensigns of royalty; but the city and palace of Modain had already escaped from the hand of the tyrant. Among the victims of his cruelty, Bindoes, a Sassanian prince, had been cast into a dungeon : his fetters were broken by the zeal and courage of a brother; and he stood before the king at the head of those trusty guards, who had been chosen as the ministers of his confinement, and perhaps of his death. Alarmed by the hasty intrusion and bold reproaches of the captive, Hormouz looked round, but in vain, for advice or assistance; discovered that his strength consisted in the obedience of others, and patiently yielded to the single arm of Bindoes, who dragged him from the throne to the same dungeon in which he himself had been so lately confined. At the first tumult, Chosroes, the eldest of the sons of Hormouz, escaped from the city; he was persuaded to return by the pressing and friendly invitation of Bindoes, who promised to seat him on his father's throne, and who expected to reign under the name of an inexperienced youth. In the just assurance, that his accomplices could neither forgive nor hope to be forgiven, and that every Persian might be trusted as the judge and enemy of the tyrant, he instituted a public trial without a precedent and without a copy in the annals of the east. The son of Nushirvan, who had requested to plead in his own defence, was introduced as a criminal into the full assembly of the nobles and satraps." He was heard with decent attention as long as he expatiated on the advantages of order and obedience, the danger of innovation, and the inevitable discord of those who had encouraged each other to trample on their lawful and hereditary sovereign. By a pathetic appeal to their humanity, he extorted that pity which is seldom refused to the fallen fortunes of a king; and while they beheld the abject posture and squalid appearance of the prisoner, his tears, his chains, and the marks of ignominious stripes, it was impossible to forget how recently they had adored the divine splendour of his diadem and purple. But an angry murmur arose in the assembly as soon as he presumed to vindicate his conduct, and to applaud the victories of his reign. He defined the duties of a king, and the Persian nobles listened with a smile of contempt; they were fired with indignation when he dared to vilify the character of Chosroes; and by the indiscreet offer of resigning

n The orientals suppose that Bahram convened this assembly and proclaimed Chosroes; but Theophylact is, in this instance, more dis tinct and eredible.

distracted with conspiracy, the city with tumult, | desirous to assert his own innocence, and to vindithe provinces with insurrection; and the cruel execution of the guilty and the suspected served to irritate rather than subdue the public discontent. No sooner did the grandson of Nushirvan display his own and the Roman banners beyond the Tigris, than he was joined, each day, by the increasing multitudes of the nobility and people; and as he advanced, he received from every side the grateful offerings of the keys of his cities and the heads of his enemies. As soon as Modain was freed from the presence of the usurper, the loyal inhabitants obeyed the first summons of Mebodes at the head of only two thousand horse, and Chosroes accepted the sacred and precious ornaments of the palace as the pledge of their truth, and a presage of his approaching success. After the junction of the imperial troops, which Bahram vainly struggled to prevent, the contest was decided by two battles on the banks of the Zab, and the confines of Media. The Romans, with the faithful subjects and final victory. of Persia, amounted to sixty thousand, while the whole force of the usurper did not exceed forty thousand men: the two generals signalized their valour and ability, but the victory was finally determined by the prevalence of numbers and discipline. With the remnant of a broken army, Bahram fled towards the eastern provinces of the Oxus: the enmity of Persia reconciled him to the Turks; but his days were shortened by poison, perhaps the most incurable of poisons; the stings of remorse and despair, and the bitter remembrance of lost glory. Yet the modern Persians still commemorate the exploits of Bahram; and some excellent laws have prolonged the duration of his troubled and transitory reign.

Death of Bahram.

roes,

Restoration and The restoration of Chosroes was policy of Chos- celebrated with feasts and executions; A. D. 591–603. and the music of the royal banquet was often disturbed by the groans of dying or mutilated criminals. A general pardon might have diffused comfort and tranquillity through a country which had been shaken by the late revolutions; yet, before the sanguinary temper of Chosroes is blamed, we should learn whether the Persians had not been accustomed either to dread the rigour, or to despise the weakness, of their sovereign. The revolt of Bahram, and the conspiracy of the satraps, were impartially punished by the revenge or justice of the conqueror; the merits of Bindoes himself could not purify his hand from the guilt of royal blood; and the son of Hormouz was

• Experimentis cognitum est barbaros malle Româ petere reges quam habere. These experiments are admirably represented in the invitation and expulsion of Vonones, (Annal. ii. 1-3.) Tiridates, (Annal. vi. 32-44.) and Meherdates, (Annal. xi. 10. xii. 10-14.) The eye of Tacitus seems to have transpierced the camp of the Parthians and the walls of the haram.

+ Sergius and his companion Bacchus, who are said to have suffered in the persecution of Maximian, obtained divine honour in France, Italy, Constantinople, and the east. Their tomb at Rasaphe was famous for miracles, and that Syrian town acquired the more honourable name of Sergiopolis. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. v. p. 491–496. Butler's Saints, vol. x. p. 155.

u Evagrius, (1. vi. c. 21.) and Theophylact, (1. v. c. 13, 14.) have

cate the sanctity of kings. During the vigour of the Roman power, several princes were seated on the throne of Persia by the arms and the authority of the first Cæsars. But their new subjects were soon disgusted with the vices or virtues which they had imbibed in a foreign land; the instability of their dominion gave birth to a vulgar observation, that the choice of Rome was solicited and rejected with equal ardour by the capricious levity of oriental slaves. But the glory of Maurice was conspicuous in the long and fortunate reign of his son and his ally. A band of a thousand Romans, who continued to guard the person of Chosroes, proclaimed his confidence in the fidelity of the strangers; his growing strength enabled him to dismiss this unpopular aid, but he steadily professed the same gratitude and reverence to his adopted father; and till the death of Maurice, the peace and alliance of the two empires were faithfully maintained. Yet the mercenary friendship of the Roman prince had been purchased with costly and important gifts; the strong cities of Martyropolis and Dara were restored, and the Persarmenians became the willing subjects of an empire, whose eastern limit was extended, beyond the example of former times, as far as the banks of the Araxes and the neighbourhood of the Caspian. A pious hope was indulged, that the church as well as the state might triumph in this revolution: but if Chosroes had sincerely listened to the christian bishops, the impression was erased by the zeal and eloquence of the Magi: if he was armed with philosophic indifference, he accommodated his belief, or rather his professions, to the various circumstances of an exile and a sovereign. The imaginary conversion of the king of Persia was reduced to a local and superstitious veneration for Sergius, one of the saints of Antioch,, who heard his prayers and appeared to him in dreams; he enriched his shrine with offerings of gold and silver, and ascribed to his invisible patron the success of his arms, and the pregnancy of Sira, a devout christian and the best beloved of his wives." The beauty of Sira, or Schirin, her wit, her musical talents, are still famous in the history or rather in the romances of the east; her own name is expressive, in the Persian tongue, of sweetness and grace; and the epithet of Parviz alludes to the charms of her royal lover. Yet Sira never shared the passion which she inspired, and the bliss of Chosroes was tortured by a jealous doubt, that while he possessed her person, she had bestowed

her affections on a meaner favourite.y

preserved the original letters of Chosroes, written in Greek, signed with his own hand, and afterwards inscribed on crosses and tables of gold, which were deposited in the church of Sergiopolis. They had been sent to the bishop of Antioch, as primate of Syria.

x The Greeks only describe her as a Roman by birth, a christian by religion but she is represented as the daughter of the emperor Maurice in the Persian and Turkish romances, which celebrate the love of Khosrou for Schirin, of Schirin for Ferhad, the most beautiful youth of the east. D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. p. 789.997, 998.

y The whole series of the tyranny of Hormouz, the revolt of Bahram, and the flight and restoration of Chosroes, is related by two contemporary Greeks-more concisely by Evagrius (1. vi. c. 16, 17, 18, 19.)— and most diffusely by Theophylact Simocatta, (1. iii. c. 6-18. 1. iv.