Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/364

310 sixty years to fulfil the wishes of its founders, and to provoke the jealousy of the Persians, who incessantly complained, that this impregnable fortress had been constructed in manifest violation of the treaty of peace between the two empires."

In the year 529 Dara was defended by Belisarius, who was accompanied at the time by Procopius his historian, against a force of 40,000 Persians. The protecting garrison amounted to no more than 25,000 Romans, but guided by the superior skill of their commander the victory was complete; "the standard of Persia fell, the immortals fled, the infantry threw away their bucklers, and 8,000 of the vanquished were left upon the field of battle." The triumphs of Chosroes a few years after obliged the Romans to consent to the demolition of this important fortress; but the sacrifice was commuted into the payment of eleven thousand pounds of gold, wherewith they purchased an inglorious peace with the Persians, with the additional stipulation that it should never again be made the residence of the general of the east. War having again broken out between the rival empires, Chosroes laid siege to Dara, which he at length reduced after it had obstinately resisted the flower of his army for five months. From the Persians Dara fell into the hands of the Saracens, and has since shared the common fate of the old Roman possessions in Mesopotamia.

We left Dara at 2, the route conducting us over the rugged sides of the western prolongation of the Toor range, which in this part is quite destitute of wood, and in two hours got into the caravan road. A further ride of ten miles brought us to Mardeen, where we were again hospitably received and entertained by Agha Moorad the Armenian banker. Having already given a description of this town, I shall not weary the reader with any fresh details, except to add, what a semi-eastern medico, dressed in an old Frank coat and Turkish red cap, was anxious that I should communicate to the English faculty, viz. that the neighbourhood of Mardeen is very rich in medicinal herbs, and rare botanical plants. Among the most common, according to my friend's testimony, are the Cicuta, Belladonna, Serpentaria, and Valeriana.