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Chaf. xlii] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 385 youth was saved and dismissed by the compassion of a veteran general ; and this act of humanity, which was revealed by his son, overbalanced the merit of reducing twelve nations to the obedience of Persia. The zeal and prudence of Mebodes had fixed the diadem on the head of Chosroes himself ; but he delayed to attend the royal summons, till he had performed the duties of a military review : he was instantly commanded to repair to the iron tripod, which stood before the gate of the palace, 50 where it was death to relieve or approach the victim ; and Mebodes languished several days before his sentence was pronounced, by the inflexible pride and calm ingratitude of the son of Kobad. But the people, more especially in the East, is disposed to forgive, and even to applaud, the cruelty which strikes at the loftiest heads ; at the slaves of ambition, whose voluntary choice has exposed them to live in the smiles, and to perish by the frown, of a capricious monarch. In the execution of the laws which he had no temptation to violate ; in the punishment of crimes which attacked his own dignity, as well as the happiness of individuals ; Nushirvan, or Chosroes, de- served the appellation of just. His government was firm, rigorous, and impartial. It was the first labour of his reign to abolish the dangerous theory of common or equal possessions ; the lands and women which the sectaries of Mazdak had usurped were restored to their lawful owners ; and the temper- ate chastisement of the fanatics or impostors confirmed the domestic rights of society. 51 Instead of listening with blind confidence to a favourite minister, he established four viziers over the four great provinces of his empire, Assyria, Media, Persia, and Bactriana. In the choice of judges, prefects, and counsellors, he strove to remove the mask which is always worn in the presence of kings ; he wished to substitute the natu- ral order of talents for the accidental distinctions of birth and fortune ; he professed, in specious language, his intention to prefer those men who carried the poor in their bosoms, and 50 Procopius, Persic. 1. i. c. 23. Brisson, de Begn. Pers. p. 494. The gate of the palace of Ispahan is, or was, the fatal scene of disgrace or death (Chardin, Voyage en Perse, torn. iv. p. 312, 313). 51 [Arabic authorities place the massacre of the Mazdakites after the accession of Chosroes. It really took place in 528-9, while Cobad was still reigning. Cp. Malalas, p. 444, and Noldeke, op. cit. p. 465. There may have been a second massacre, as Noldeke admits.] vol. iv. — 25