V
��PART IV.
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PREFECTS, WHICH
LASTED 466 TEARS.
A.D.428. On the removal of the royal dignity from Armenia, by the destruction of the power of the Arsacidse, this country was stripped of her glorvt and sunk into a state of the lowest degradation. Henceforward she was governed by prefects; that dignity being sometimes held by Arme- nians, oftener by foreigners of various nations and religions. Prefects were first sent by the Persians to govern Armenia. They possessed three distinct powers: first, as viceroys on behalf of Persia; secondly, as having the supreme government of the land, without referring to any state or prince ; thirdly, the power of life and death, and the nomination and recal of the governors of the provinces at will. They were, however, restricted from altering the different orders of nobility, and from seizing by force any towns or villages and appropriating them to their private purposes* They were not accustomed to entertain foreign troops to any great amount, they had merely a small force from their own
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