Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/321

 chap, xl] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 275 was supported by a line of two thousand elephants. 134 The Persians were twice circumvented, in a situation which made valour useless and flight impossible; and the double victory of the Huns was achieved by military stratagem. They dismissed their royal captive after he had submitted to adore the majesty of a Barbarian; and the humiliation was poorly evaded by the casuistical subtilty of the Magi, who in- structed Perozes to direct his attention to the rising sun. The indignant successor of Cyrus forgot his danger and his gratitude; he renewed the attack with headstrong fury, and lost both his army and his life. 135 The death of Perozes aban-[ A. D .484] doned Persia to her foreign and domestic enemies ; and twelve years of confusion elapsed before his son Cabades or Kobad could embrace any designs of ambition or revenge. The un-The kind parsimony of Anastasius was the motive or pretence of a war. a.d. Eoman war ; 136 the Huns and Arabs marched under the Persian standard ; and the fortifications of Armenia and Mesopotamia were at that time in a ruinous or imperfect condition. The emperor returned his thanks to the governor and people of Martyropolis for the prompt surrender of a city which the twelve sorts known to the ancients (Goguet, Origine des Loix, &c. part ii. 1. ii. c. 2, art. 3). In this war the Huns got, or at least Perozes lost, the finest pearl in the world, of which Procopius relates a ridiculous fable. 134 The Indo-Scythae continued to reign from the time of Augustus (Dionys. Perieget. 1088, with the Commentary of Eustathius, in Hudson, Geograph. Minor, torn, iv.) to that of the elder Justin (Cosmas, Topograph. Christ. 1. xi. p. 338, 339). On their origin and conquests, see d'Anville (sur l'lnde, p. 18, 45, &c. 69, 85, 89). In the second century they were masters of Larice or Guzerat. 133 See the fate of Phirouz or Perozes, and its consequences, in Procopius (Persic. 1. i. c. 3-6), who may be compared with the fragments of Oriental history (d'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient, p. 351, and Texeria, History of Persia, translated or abridged by Stevens, 1. i. c. 32, p. 132-138). The chronology is ably ascertained by Asseman (Bibliot. Orient, torn. iii. p. 396-427). [The death of Perozes occurred soon after the total eclipse of the sun on Jan. 14, 484. His successor Balash reigned to 488 ; and Cobad's first year was counted from July 22, 488. See Ndldeke, Geschichte der Perser, &c. p. 425-7.] 136 The Persian war, under the reigns of Anastasius and Justin, may be collected from Procopius (Persic. 1. i. c. 7, 8, 9), Theophanes (in Chronograph, p. 124-127), Evagrius (1. iii. c. 37), Marcellinus (in Chron. p. 47), and Josua Stylites apud Asseman. (torn. i. p. 272-281). [Josua Stylites (ed. Wright, see Appendix 1) describes, with considerable detail, the two sieges of Amida, (1) by the Persians (Oct. 502- Jan. 503), and (2) by the Romans, under " Patricius " and Hypatius (503), and the siege of Edessa (504-5). He relates a defeat sustained by Patricius at Opadna ( = al-Fudain, ace. to Noldeke, on the river Chaboras) in a.d. 503 ; and an unsuccessful attempt of Cobad to take Constantina. The Continuator of Zachariah of Mytilene gives an account of the war and also describes at length the first siege of Amida. The account in Evagrius is taken from Eustathius of Epiphania. On the character of Cobad, cp. Noldeke (Geschichte der Perser, &c. p. 143), who concludes that he was energetic and able.]