Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/71

OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 49 treaty and reconciliation. Chosroes led into the field the slaves of the palace and the populace of the capital ; they beheld with terror the banners of a veteran army ; they were encompassed and surprised by the evolutions of the general ; and the satraps who had deposed Hormouz received the punishment of their revolt, or expiated their first treason by a second and more criminal act of disloyalty. The life and liberty of Chosroes were saved, but he was reduced to the necessity of imploring aid or refuge in some foreign land ; and the implacable Bindoes, anxious to secure an unquestionable title, hastily returned to the palace, and ended, with a bow-string, the wretched exist- Death of n .1 r X' I • n Hormouz. ence oi the son oi JNushirvan.'^ a.d. 590 While Chosroes dispatched the preparations of his retreat, he chosroes flies to the deliberated with his remaining friends -- whether he should Romans lurk in the valleys of Mount Caucasus, or fly to the tents of the Turks, or solicit the protection of the emperor. The long emulation of the successors of Artaxerxes and Constantine in- creased his reluctance to appear as a suppliant in a rival court ; but he weighed the forces of the Romans, and prudently con- sidered that the neighbourhood of Syria would render his escape more easy and their succours more effectual. Attended only by his concubines and a troop of thirty guards, he secretly departed from the capital, followed the banks of the Euphrates, traversed the desert, and halted at the distance of ten miles from Circesium. About the third watch of the night, the Roman praefect was informed of his approach, and he introduced the royal stranger to the fortress at the dawn of day. From thence the king of Persia was conducted to the more honourable residence of Hierapolis ; "-■' and Maurice dissembled his pride, ^ and displayed his benevolence, at the reception of the letters and ambassadors of the grandson of Nushirvan. They humbly represented the vicissitudes of fortune and the common interest -1 Theophylact (1. iv. c. 7) imputes the death pf Hormouz to his son, by whose command he was beaten to death with clubs. I have followed the milder account of Khondemir and Eutychius [and so Tabari, p. 280] and shall always be content with the slightest evidence to extenuate the crime of parricide. [The account of Sebaeos, p. 33-4, also exonerates Chosroes.] "After the battle of Pharsalia, the Pompey of Lucan (1. viii. 256-455) holds a similar debate. He was himself desirous of seeking the Parthians ; but his com- panions abhorred the unnatural alliance ; and the adverse prejudices might operate as forcibly on Chosroes and his companions, who could describe, with the same vehemence, the contrast of laws, religion, and manners, between the East and West. -•' [The letter was dispatched from Circesium, the frontier town (Theophyl. , .j, lo) ; Tabari falsely says, from Antioch (p. 282).] VOL. V. 4