AU THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, by the Persian war. It was reserved for the reign of ^^^^' Diocletian to vanquish that powerful nation, and to extort a confession from the successors of Artaxerxes, of the superior majesty of the Roman empire. Tiridates We have observed, under the reign of Valerian, that nian. '^™^" Armenia was subdued by the perfidy and the arms of the Persians, and that after the assassination of Chosroes, his son Tiridates, the infant heir of the monarchy, was saved by the fidehty of his friends, and educated under the protection of the emperors. Tiridates derived from his exile such advantages as he could never have obtained on the throne of Armenia ; the early know- ledge of adversity, of mankind, and of the Roman dis- cipline. He signalized his youth by deeds of valour, and displayed a matchless dexterity, as well as strength, in every martial exercise, and even in the less honour- A.D. 282. able contests of the Olympian games*'. Those quahties were more nobly exerted in the defence of his bene- factor Licinius®. That officer, in the sedition which occasioned the death of Probus, was exposed to the most imminent danger ; and the enraged soldiers were forcing their way into his tent, when they were checked by the single arm of the Armenian prince. The grati- tude of Tiridates contributed soon afterwards to his restoration. Licinius was in every station the friend and companion of Galerius ; and the merit of Galerius, long before he was raised to the dignity of Caesar, had been known and esteemed by Diocletian. In the third year of that emperor's reign, Tiridates was invested with the kingdom of Armenia. The justice of the measure was not less evident than its expediency. It was time to rescue from the usurpation of the Persian
- " See the education and strength of Tiridates in the Armenian history of
Moses of Chorene, 1. ii. c. 76. He could seize two wild bulls by the horns, and break them off with his hands. s If we give credit to the younger Victor, who supposes that in the year 323 Licinius was only sixty years of age, he could scarcely be the same person as the patron of Tiridates ; but we know from much better authority (Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. 1. x. c. 8.) that Licinius was at that time in the last period of old age : sixteen years before, he is represented with grey hairs, and as the contemporary of Galerius. See Lactant. c. 32. Licinius was probably born about the year 250.
