XXV. The treaty of peace, A. D. 384. CHAP. The remembrance of ancient injuries was loft in the enjoyment of peace. The kingdoms of Armenia and Iberia were permitted, by the mutual, though tacit, confent of both empires, to resume their doubtful neutrality. In the first years of the reign of Theodofius, a Perfian embaffy arrived at Conftantinople, to excuse the unjustifiable measures of the former reign; and to offer, as the tribute of friendfhip, or even of refpect, a fplendid prefent of gems, of filk, and of Indian elephants 3. Adventures of of Arme Bia. In the general picture of the affairs of the Eaft under the reign of Valens, the adventures of Para Para, king form one of the most striking and fingular objects. The noble youth, by the perfuafion of hist mother Olympias, had escaped through the Perfian hoft that befieged Artogeraffa, and implored the protection of the emperor of the Eaft. By his timid councils, Para was alternately fupported, and recalled, and reftored, and betrayed. The hopes of the Armenians were fometimes raifed by the prefence of their natural fovereign; and the ministers of Valens were fatisfied, that they preferved the integrity of the public faith, if their vaffal was not fuffered to affume the diadem and title of King. ed of their own rafhness. by the reproaches and threats of the Perfian monarch. They found reafon to diftruft the cruel and inconftant temper of Para himfelf: who But they foon repentThey were confounded 138 Pacatus in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 22. and Orófius, 1.vii. c. 34. Ictumque tum fœdus eft, quo univerfus Oriens ufque ad nunc (A. D. 416.) tranquilliffimè fruitur. facrificed, XXV. facrificed, to the flighteft fufpicions, the lives of CHAP. his most faithful fervants; and held a fecret and difgraceful correfpondence with the affaffin of his father, and the enemy of his country. Under the specious pretence of confulting with the emperor on the fubject of their common interest, Para was perfuaded to defcend from the mountains of Armenia, where his party was in arms, and to trust his independence and safety to the difcretion of a perfidious court. The king of Armenia, for fuch he appeared in his own eyes and in those of his nation, was received with due honours by the governors of the provinces through which he paffed; but when he arrived at Tarfus in Cilicia, his progrefs was ftopped under various pretences; his motions were watched with refpectful vigilance; and he gradually discovered, that he was a prifoner in the hands of the Romans. Para fuppreffed his indignation, diffembled his fears, and, after fecretly preparing his escape, mounted on horseback with three hundred of his faithful followers. The officer ftationed at the door of his apartment immediately communicated his flight to the confular of Cilicia, who overtook him in the suburbs, and endeavoured, without fuccefs, to diffuade him from profecuting his rafh and dangerous defign. A legion was ordered to pursue the royal fugitive; but the pursuit of infantry could not be very alarming to a body of light cavalry; and upon the first cloud of arrows that was discharged into the air, they retreated with precipitation to the XXV. CHAP. the gates of Tarfus. After an inceffant march of two days and two nights, Para and his Armenians reached the banks of the Euphrates; but the paffage of the river, which they were obliged to fwim, was attended with fome delay and fome lofs. The country was alarmed; and the two roads, which were only feparated by an interval of three miles, had been occupied by a thousand archers on horfeback, under the command of a count and a tribune. Para must have yielded to fuperior force, if the accidental arrival of a friendly traveller had not revealed the danger, and the means of escape. A dark and almost impervious path fecurely conveyed the Armenian troop through the thicket; and Para had left behind him the count and the tribune, while they patiently expected his approach along the public highways. They returned to the Imperial court to excuse their want of diligence or fuccefs: and feriously alleged, that the king of Armenia, who was a fkilful magician, had transformed himself and his followers, and paffed before their eyes under a borrowed fhape. After his return to his native kingdom, Para ftill continued to profess himself the friend and ally of the Romans; but the Romans had injured him too deeply ever to forgive, and the fecret fentence of his death was figned in the council of Valens. The execution of the bloody deed was committed to the fubtle prudence of Count Trajan; and he had the merit of infinuating himself into the confidence of the credulous prince, that he might find an oppor tunity XXV. tunity of stabbing him to the heart. Para was CHAP. invited to a Roman banquet, which had been prepared with all the pomp and fenfuality of the Eaft the hall refounded with cheerful mufic, and the company was already heated with wine; when the count retired for an inftant, drew his fword, and gave the fignal of the murder. A robuft and defperate Barbarian inftantly rufhed on the king of Armenia; and though he bravely defended his life with the first weapon that chance offered to his hand, the table of the Imperial A.D. 374. general was ftained with the royal blood of a gueft, and an ally. Such were the weak and wicked maxims of the Roman administration, that, to attain a doubtful object of political intereft, the laws of nations, and the sacred rights of hofpitality, were inhumanly violated in the face of the world 139. V. During a peaceful interval of thirty years, the Romans fecured their frontiers, and the Goths extended their dominions. The victories of the great Hermanric 140, king of the Oftrogoths, and the most noble of the race of the Amali, have been compared, by the enthusiasm of his countrymen, to the exploits of Alexander: with this fingular, and almoft incredible, difference, that 139 See in Ammianus (xxx. 1.) the adventures of Para. Mofes of Chorene calls him Tiridates; and tells a long, and not improbable, ftory of his fon Gnelus; who afterwards made himself popular in Armenia, and provoked the jealousy of the reigning king (l. iii. c. 21, &c. p. 253, &c.). 140 The concife account of the reign and conquefts of Hermanric, feems to be one of the valuable fragments which Jornandes (c. 28.) borrowed from the Gothic hiftories of Ablavius, or Caffiodorus. the V. THE manric. CHAP. the martial spirit of the Gothic hero, instead of XXV. being fupported by the vigour of youth, was displayed with glory and fuccefs in the extreme period of human life; between the age of fourfcore and one hundred and ten years. The independent tribes were perfuaded, or compelled, to acknowledge the king of the Oftrogoths as the fovereign of the Gothic nation: the chiefs of the Vifigoths, or Thervingi, renounced the royal title, and affumed the more humble appellation of Judges; and, among thofe judges, Athanaric, Fritigern, and. Alavivus, were the moft illuftrious, by their perfonal merit, as well as by their vicinity to the Roman provinces. Thefe domeftic conquefts, which increafed the military power of Hermanric, enlarged his ambitious defigns. He invaded the adjacent countries of the North; and twelve confiderable nations, whofe names and limits cannot be accurately defined, fucceffively yielded to the fuperiority of the Gothic arms 4. The Heruli, who inhabited the marfhy lands near the lake Mæotis, were renowned for their ftrength and agility; and the affiftance of their light infantry was eagerly folicited, and highly esteemed, in all the wars of the Barbarians. But the active spirit of the Heruli was fubdued by the flow and steady 141 M. de Buat (Hift. des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vi. p. 311 −329.) investigates, with more industry than success, the nations fubdued by the arms of Hermanric. He denies the existence of the Vafinobronca, on account of the immoderate length of their name. Yet the French envoy to Ratisbon, or Dresden, must have traversed the country of the Mediomatrici. perfeve |