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news of the revolution in the affairs of Yaman, and the friendly professions of the new king, had been joyfully received at the court of Justinian, who hoped that he might at length rely on his assistance; but the promise of the king of Hamyar to take a part in the Persian war was never fulfilled. The ambassadors of Rome often urged Abrahah to the invasion of Persia, but the soldiers of Hamyar were disheartened by the prospect of a long and perilous march through the desert, to engage an enemy of such superior power and resources, and when Abrahah had once set out on the promised expedition, some domestic circumstance called him back almost as soon as he started.

The last years of the reign of the Persian king Kobad were embittered by civil discord. This monarch had adopted the pernicious doctrines of Mazdak, who pretended to be a prophet sent from heaven to preach a community of women and possessions; the wives and estates of the Persian nobles were divided among the disciples of the impostor, and the mother of the great Noushirwan was only saved from prostitution by the urgent entreaties of her son. The king of Hirah, whose mother, from her beauty, had obtained the appellation of