Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/466

 U2 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, last defeat ; and he considered an immediate peace as Roman arms. He despatched Apharban, a servant who possessed his favour and confidence, with a com- mission to negociate a treaty, or rather to receive what- Speech of ever conditions the conqueror should impose. Aphar- ihe Persian ^^^ opened the conference by expressing his master's gratitude for the generous treatment of his family, and by soliciting the liberty of those illustrious captives. He celebrated the valour of Galerius, without degrading the reputation of Narses ; and thought it no dishonour to confess the superiority of the victorious Caesar, over a monarch who had surpassed in glory all the princes of his race. Notwithstanding the justice of the Per- sian cause, he was empowered to submit the present differences to the decision of the emperors themselves ; convinced as he was, that^ in the midst of prosperity, they would not be unmindful of the vicissitudes of for- tune. Apharban concluded his discourse in the style of eastern allegory, by observing, that the Roman and Persian monarchies were the two eyes of the world, which would remain imperfect and mutilated if either of them should be put out. Answer of " It well becomes the Persians ;" replied Galerius, Galerius. with a transport of fury which seemed to convulse his whole frame, " it well becomes the Persians to expatiate on the vicissitudes of fortune, and calmly to read us lectures on the virtues of moderation. Let them remember their own moderation towards the un- happy Valerian. They vanquished him by fraud, they treated him with indignity. They detained him till the last moment of his life in shameful captivity, and after his death they exposed his body to perpetual ignominy." Softening, however, his tone, Galerius in- sinuated to the ambassador, that it had never been the practice of the Romans to trample on a prostrate enemy ; and that, on this occasion, they should consult their own dignity rather than the Persian merit. He dismissed Apharban, with a hope that Narses would
 * __ the only means that could stop the progress of the