Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/411

 OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 891 in their attempt to recover the long lost possession of Nisibis, the Persians were repulsed from the walls of a Mesopotamian city by the valour of a martial bishop, who pointed his thunder- ing engine in the name of St. Thomas the Apostle. Yet the splendid victories, which the incredible speed of the messenger Palladius repeatedly announced to the palace of Constantinople, were celebrated with festivals and panegyrics. From these panegyrics the historians ^^ of the age might borrow their ex- traordinary and, perhaps, fabulous tales ; of the proud challenge of a Persian hero, who was entangled by the net, and dis- patched by the sword, of Areobindus the Goth ; of the ten thousand Immortals, who were slain in the attack of the Roman camp ; and of the hundred thousand Arabs, or Saracens, who were impelled by a panic of terror to throw themselves head- long into the Euphrates. Such events may be disbelieved or disregarded ; but the charity of a bishop, Acacius of Amida, whose name might have dignified the saintly calendar, shall not be lost in oblivion. Boldly declaring that vases of gold and silver are useless to a God Avho neither eats nor drinks, the generous prelate sold the plate of the church of Amida ; em- ployed the price in the redemption of seven thousand Persian captives ; supplied their wants with affectionate liberality ; and dismissed them to their native country, to inform the king of the true spirit of the religion which he persecuted. The practice of benevolence in the midst of war must always tend to assuage the animosity of contending nations ; and I wish to persuade myself that Acacius contributed to the restoration of peace. In the conference which was held on the limits of the two empires, the Roman ambassadors degraded the personal character of their sovereign by a vain attempt to magnify the extent of his power ; w hen they seriously advised the Persians to prevent, by a timely accommodation, the wrath of a monarch who was yet ignorant of this distant war. A truce of one hundred years was solemnly ratified ; and, although the revolutions of Armenia might threaten the public tranquillity, the essential conditions of this treaty were respected near fourscore years by the successoi's of Constantine and Artaxerxes. Since the Roman and Parthian standards first encountered on Armenia the banks of the Euphrates, the kingdom of Armenia ^^ wastweenthe^ Persians and ,j. C-,, ,. . the Komans »i bocrates (1. vii. c. i8, 19, 20, 21) is the best author for the Persian war. We may hkewise consult the three Chronicles, the Paschal, and those of Marcellinus and Malala. [For the succession of the Persian kings, see Appendix 5.] 82 This account of the ruin and division of the kingdom of Armenia is taken from the third book of the Armenian history of Moses of Chorene. Deficient as