Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/65

 in Oriental successions the new Shah was unable to seat himself firmly on the throne without making away with several of his near relatives who formed a nucleus around whom malcontents might cluster. Preoccupied, therefore, with his domestic affairs, he was anxious to be relieved from the onus of a foreign war, and signified shortly to the Roman legates his willingness to negotiate a treaty. Rufinus was credited with being a peculiarly grateful personage to Chosroes owing to his having consistently advised Cavades, during his long intimacy with him, to elevate his third son to the throne. It was also reported that the Persian queen-mother was in secret sympathy with Christianity and, therefore, used her influence over her son to promote peaceful relations with the Byzantines. But the lessons of the war

seems to copy Malala, but in this case he is so ignorant as to make Chosroes succeed in 525!]
 * [Footnote: to the claim of the eldest son, Caoses; loc. cit., 21. Sometimes Theophanes