Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/111

 HISTORY OF ARMENIA. Page 66

exploits, the latter, in the person of Artaces, raised himself greatly above the former. Nay, all Persia was under his controul, and he built palaces there, and struck money bearing his name and image, which was the current coin of the country. His son Tigranes always remained with his father, where his mind was early stored with maxims of prudence and virtue, the practice of which was his continual employment. He was also trained to the usual military exercises of a young prince. His daughter Artashama was given in marriage to Mithridates, the great and valiant chief of the Georgians, and descendant of Mithridates, the first minister of Darius. To his son-in-law Artaces entrusted the government of the nations about the northern mountains and the Pontic Sea.

Inflated with the contemplation of his greatness, Artaces became vain-glorious, and sought for gratification in the splendour of foreign conquests rather than in the task of ameliorating the condition of his subjects.

For this purpose he assembled an army so numerous that he himself did not know their number; for, it is said, it would have been easier to reckon them by measurement than by numbering. It is also said, that if this immense army were to shoot their arrows at midday, the rays of the sun would be obscured by the greatness of