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XLVI.

CHAP. his hopes were confirmed by a victory of his brother Theodorus; and to the hoftile league of Chofroes with the Avars, the Roman emperor opposed the useful and honourable alliance of the Turks. At his liberal invitation, the hord of Chozars" tranfported their tents from the plains of the Volga to the mountains of Georgia; Heraclius received them in the neighbourhood of Teflis, and the khan with his nobles difmounted from their horses, if we may credit the Greeks, and fell proftrate on the ground, to adore the purple of the Cæfar. Such voluntary homage and important aid were entitled to the warmest acknowledgments; and the emperor, taking off his own diadem, placed it on the head of the Turkish prince, whom he faluted with a tender embrace and the appella, tion of fon. After a fumptuous banquet, he prefented Ziebel with the plate and ornaments, the gold, the gems, and the filk, which had been used at the Imperial table, and, with his own hand, diftributed rich jewels and ear-rings to his new allies. In a fecret interview, he produced the por, trait of his daughter Eudocia ", condefcended to

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98 The power of the Chozars prevailed in the viith, viiith, and ixth centuries. They were known to the Greeks, the Arabs, and under the name of Kofa, to the Chinese themselves. De Guignes, Hift. des Huns, tom. ii. part ii. p. 507-509.

99 Epiphania, or Eudocia, the only daughter of Heraclius and his first wife Eudocia, was born at Conftantinople on the 7th of July, A. D. 611, baptised the 15th of Auguft, and crowned (in the oratory of St. Stephen in the palace) the 4th of October of the fame year. At this time fhe was about fifteen. Eudocia was afterwards fent to her Turkish husband, but the news of his death stopped her journey and prevented the confummation (Ducange, Familiæ Byzantin. p. 118.).

flatter

XLVI.

flatter the Barbarian with the promise of a fair and CHAP. august bride, obtained an immediate fuccour of forty thousand horse, and negotiated a strong diverfion of the Turkish arms on the fide of the Oxus 100. The Perfians, in their turn, retreated with precipitation; in the camp of Edeffa, Heraclius reviewed an army of feventy thoufand Romans and strangers; and fome months were fuccefsfully employed in the recovery of the cities of Syria, Mefopotamia, and Armenia, whofe fortifications had been imperfectly restored. Sarbar still maintained the important ftation of Chalcedon; but the jealoufy of Chofroes, or the artifice of Heraclius, foon alienated the mind of that powerful fatrap from the fervice of his king and country. A meffenger was intercepted with a real or fictitious mandate to the cadarigan, or second in command, directing him to fend, without delay, to the throne, the head of a guilty or unfortunate general. The dispatches were tranfmitted to Sarbar himself; and as foon as he read the sentence of his own death, he dextrously inserted the names of four hundred officers, affembled a military council, and asked the cadarigan, whether he was prepared to execute the commands of their tyrant. The Perfians unanimously declared, that Chofroes had forfeited the fceptre; a separate treaty was concluded with the government of Conftantinople; and if fome confiderations of honour or policy restrained Sarbar

100 Elmacin (Hift. Saracen. p. 13-16.) gives fome curious and probable facts: but his numbers are rather too high—3c0,000 Romans affembled at Edeffa-500,000 Perfians killed at Nineveh. The abatement of a cypher is scarcely enough to restore his fanity.

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XLVI.

CHAP. from joining the standard of Heraclius, the em peror was affured, that he might profecute, without interruption, his designs of victory and peace.

His third expedition,

Deprived of his firmeft fupport, and doubtful of the fidelity of his fubjects, the greatnefs of Chofroes A. D. 627. was still confpicuous in its ruins. The number of five hundred thoufand may be interpreted as an Oriental metaphor, to defcribe the men and arms, the horfes and elephants that covered Media and Affyria against the invafion of Heraclius. Yet the Romans boldly advanced from the Araxes to the Tigris, and the timid prudence of Rhazates was content to follow them by forced marches through a defolate country, till he received a peremptory mandate to rifk the fate of Perfia in a decifive battle. Eaftward of the Tigris, at the end of the bridge of Mofal, the great Nineveh had formerly been erected; the city, and even the ruins of the city, had long fince disappeared 102: the vacant fpace afforded a spacious field for the operations of the two armies. But thefe operations are neglected by the Byzantine hiftorians, and, like the authors of epic poetry and romance, they ascribe the victory,

101 Ctefias (apud Diodor. Sicul. tom, i. 1. ii. p. 115. edit. Weffeling) affigus 480 ftadia (perhaps only 32 miles) for the circumference of Nineveh. Jonas talks of three days journey: the 120,000 perfons defcribed by the prophet as incapable of discerning their right hand from their left, may afford about 700,000 persons of all ages for the inhabitants of that ancient capital (Goguet, Origines des Loix, &c. tom. iii. parti. p. 92, 93.) which ceased to exift 6co years before Chrift. The western suburb ftill fubfifted, and is mentioned under the name of Mosul in the first age of the Arabian khaliffs.

102 Niebuhr (Voyage en Arabie, &c. tom. ii. p. 286.) paffed over Nineveh without perceiving it. He miftook for a ridge of hills the old rampart of brick or earth. It is faid to have been 100 feet high, Banked with 1500 towers, each of the height of 200 feet.

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XLVI.

and viso-
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not to the military conduct, but to the perfonal CHAP.
valour, of their favourite hero. On this memo-
rable day, Heraclius, on his horfe Phallas, furpaffed
the bravest of his warriors: his lip was pierced with
a fpear, the steed was wounded in the thigh, but he
carried his mafter fafe and victorious through the
triple phalanx of the Barbarians. In the heat of
the action, three valiant chiefs were fucceffively flain
by the fword and lance of the emperor; among
thefe was Rhazates himself; he fell like a foldier,
but the fight of his head fcattered grief and despair
through the fainting ranks of the Perfians. His
armour of pure and maffy gold, the fhield of one
hundred and twenty plates, the sword and belt, the
faddle and cuirafs, adorned the triumph of Hera-
clius, and if he had not been faithful to Chrift and
his mother, the champion of Rome might have
offered the fourth opime fpoils to the Jupiter of the
Capitol. In the battle of Nineveh, which was
fiercely fought from day-break to the eleventh
hour, twenty-eight standards, beside those which
might be broken or torn, were taken from the
Perfians; the greatest part of their army was cut
in pieces, and the victors, concealing their own
lofs, paffed the night on the field. They acknow-
ledged, that on this occafion it was lefs difficult to
kill than to discomfit the foldiers of Chofroes;

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303 Rex regia arma fero (fays Romulus, in the first confecration) bina poftea (continues Livy, i. 10.) inter tot belle, opima parta funt fpolia, adeo rara ejus fortuna decoris. If Varro (apud Pomp Feftum, p. 306. edit. Dacier) could juftify his liberality in granting the of ime fpoils even to a common foldier who had flain the king or general of the enemy, the honour would have been much more cheap and common,

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XLVI.

CHAP. amidst the bodies of their friends, no more than two bow-fhot from the enemy, the remnant of the Perfian cavalry ftood firm till the feventh hour of the night; about the eight hour they retired to their unrifled camp, collected their baggage, and dispersed on all fides, from the want of orders rather than of refolution. The diligence of Heraclius was not lefs admirable in the ufe of victory; by a march of forty-eight miles in four and twenty hours, his vanguard occupied the bridges of the greater and the leffer Zab; and the cities and palaces of Affyria were open for the first time to the Romans. By a just gradation of magnificent scenes, they penetrated to the royal feat of Daftagerd, and, though much of the treasure had been removed, and much had been expended, the remaining wealth appears to have exceeded their hopes, and even to have fatiated their avarice. Whatever could not be easily transported, they confumed. with fire, that Chofroes might feel the anguifh of those wounds, which he had fo often inflicted on the provinces of the empire; and justice might allow the excufe, if the defolation had been confined to the works of regal luxury, if national hatred, military license, and religious zeal, had not wafted with equal rage the habitations and the temples of the guiltlefs fubject. The recovery of three hundred Roman ftandards, and the deliverance of the numerous captives of Edeffa and Alexandria, reflect a purer glory on the arms of Hera, clius. From the palace of Daftagerd, he purfued his march within a few miles of Modain or Ctefiphon, till he was stopped, on the banks of the Arba,

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