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CHOSROES 519 signees ; but except in the case of negotiable paper, and such other cases as statutes may have provided for, the assignee, if he prose- cutes, must do so in the name of the assignor. CHOSROES, or Khosru, the name of two kings of Persia. I. Surnamed by historians the Just, by those of his nation Nushirvan (noble spirit), one of the most remarkable monarchs of the East, reigned from A. D. 531 to 579. He was of the house of Sassan, and the son and successor of Cabades or Kobad. In his youth he exhibited those qualities which afterward gained for him the title of " generous," and this is said to have rendered him the object of his father's predilections to the succession in pref- erence to his two elder brothers ; he appointed him king over one of his provinces, by which according to Persian usage he was designated as successor, and, in order to strengthen his choice, called on the Greek emperor to adopt him. The proposal was accepted, and Chos- roes departed for Constantinople ; but a puerile disagreement caused a rupture, the return of the prince, and perhaps his constant hatred to the Greeks. The last war of his father he ter- minated gloriously by a treaty of peace, in which Justinian promised to pay 10,000 Ibs. of gold. Chosroes now directed his attention to the regulation of the affairs of his kingdom, which during his father's reign had been dis- tracted by a long war with the Byzantine em- pire, and by civil and religious commotion ; suppressed the sect of the followers of Mazdak, whose communistic theories in regard to prop- erty and marriage had been a source of distur- bance ; and appointed four viziers to rule the four great divisions of the state, Assyria, Media, Persia, and Bactriana. He extended its limits to the Indus and Oxus, and compelled the no- madic tribes of the northern barbarians to re- pass the latter river. But his chief wars were those against the Greeks. Viewing with con- cern the victories of Belisarius, the great gene- ral of Justinian, over the Vandals in Africa and the Goths in Italy, he roused his vassal the Arab Almondar, prince of Hira, to make an in- road into the empire, and soon afterward hos- tilities broke out between Persia and the empe- ror. Chosroes invaded Syria (540), plundered its cities, and took Antioch after a brave resis- tance. Belisarius, sent to defend the eastern provinces of the empire, was successful, but soon fell a victim to the intrigues of the court and was recalled, and Chosroes was again vic- torious. The war was continued for a series of years, chiefly in the districts east of the Black sea, and terminated by the peace of 562, by which the emperor bound himself to pay an annual tribute of 30,000 pieces of gold, and re- ceived the cession of the Persian claims upon Colchis and Lazica. This peace continued for ten years ; but the conquest of Yemen in south- ern Arabia by the lieutenants of Chosroes, who wrested it from the Abyssinians, the allies of the Byzantine empire, incited Justin, the new emperor, to collect a great army and recom- mence hostilities. He was defeated, and the Persians plundered Syria again. Tiberius ob- tained a truce of three years; this he em- ployed in preparing a great army, and in the bloody battle fought near Melitene, in Lesser Armenia, the old Persian monarch was com- pletely defeated (578). He died soon after, and was succeeded by his son Hormisdas (or Hormuz) IV. The 48 years of Nushirvan's reign formed the golden age of modern Per- sia, in the history and poetry of the East. Dreaded by his enemies, he was revered and beloved by his subjects, who enjoyed the fruits of his victories and admired his justice ; easily forgiving those crimes which served to confirm his throne, such as the murder of his two elder brothers, and the extermination of their families arid adherents. His government was firm, vigorous, and impartial ; the admin- istration of justice was watched most scrupu- lously and severely ; the poor were the par- ticular objects of attention ; orphans were edu- cated at the public expense ; the provinces were often visited by the monarch ; the ancient religion of the Magi was respected; science and literature, trade and agriculture were zeal- ously promoted ; academies and libraries were founded, and enriched with the annals of the kingdom, as well as with translations from the Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, &c., among which the celebrated fables of Pilpay or Bidpay, expressly sent for to India, have become a literary mon- ument even in the West. The wisdom of Nushirvan was admired by philosophers from Greece, and embassies were sent to him from Africa, India, China, and Thibet. lit Sur- named Parviz, grandson of the preceding, suc- ceeded his father Hormisdas, who was deposed in 590. Prevented from occupying the throne by the rebel Bahram, he fled to the Greek emperor Mauritius, entreated his assistance, re- turned with an army, and defeated the usurper. Bahram escaped to Turkistan, where he per- ished soon after. In a treaty with Mauritius he rewarded his aid by a large sum of money, and the surrender of the most important cities of Mesopotamia. He continued in peace with Constantinople during that emperor's life, and kept a Greek body guard, so that Persia was in a considerable measure under Greek influ- ences. His ally having been assassinated by Phocas (602), he took up arms against the em- pire with the ostensible purpose of avenging his death. A long war ensued, in which nearly all the Asiatic provinces of the Greeks were devastated and conquered, and which was not interrupted by the death of Phocas, or by the supplications for peace of Heraclius. Antioch, Csesarea in Cappadocia, the whole of Palestine, Egypt with Alexandria, and Asia Minor, were wrested in successive campaigns from the new emperor ; his capital, deprived of its supplies from Egypt, was a prey to famine, and threat- ened from the north by the Avars and other barbarians. Threatening to pass the Bosporus and besiege Constantinople, Chosroes proposed