Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/115

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 93 and it will not be denied that tyrants of every age and sect are the best entitled to such infernal abodes. The glory of the house of Sassan ended with the life of Chosroes ; his unnatural son enjoyed only eight months the fruit of his crimes ; and in the space of four years the regal title was assumed by nine candidates, who disputed, with the sword or dagger, the frag- ments of an exhausted monarchy. Every province and each city of Persia was the scene of independence, of discord, and of blood, and the state of anarchy prevailed about eight years longer, till the factions were silenced and united under the common yoke of the Arabian caliphs.^-*^ As soon as the mountains became passable, the emperor Treaty of received the welcome news of the success of the conspiracy, tween tiie the death of Chosroes, and the elevation of his eldest son toZ'D.^SI/^ the throne of Persia, The authors of the revolution, eager to '^' ' display their merits in the court or camp of Tauris, preceded the ambassadors of Siroes, who delivered the letters of their master to his brother the emperor of the Romans. ^-^^ In the language of the usui-pers of every age, he imputes his own crimes to the Deity, and, without degrading his equal majesty, he offers to reconcile the long discord of the two nations, by a treaty of peace and alliance more durable than brass or iron. The conditions of the treaty were easily defined and faithfully executed. In the recovery of the standards and prisoners which had fallen into the hands of the Persians, the emperor imitated the example of Augustus : their care of the national dignity was celebrated by the poets of the times ; but the decay of genius may be measured by the distance between Horace and George of Pisidia : the subjects and brethren of Hei'aclius were redeemed from persecution, slavery, and exile ; but, instead of the Roman eagles, the true wood of the holy cross was restored to the importunate demands of the successor of Constantine. The victor was not ambitious of enlarging the weakness of the empire ; the son of Chosroes abandoned without regret the conquests of his father ; the Persians who evacuated the cities of Syria and Egypt were honourably conducted to the frontier ; 1^^ The best Oriental accounts of this last period of the Sassaiiian kings are found in Eutychius (Annal. torn. ii. p. 251-256), who dissembles the parricide of Siroes, D'Herbelot (Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 789), and Assemanni (Bibliothec. Oriental, torn. iii. p. 415-420). [For chronological list of the chief usurpers, see Appendix 6.] 13- The letter of Siroes in the Paschal Chronicle (p. 402 [p. 735, ed. Bonn]) unfortunately ends before he proceeds to business. The treaty appears in its e.xecution in the histories of Theophanes and Nicephorus.