392 HISTORY OF ARUENIA.
fighting and plundering, sometimes the Saracens were successful^ at other times the Armenians.
��CHAPTER XXL
i
The period between the governments of Ezit the Second and Abuseth, and between the pontificates of Stephen and Johannes the Fifth.
A- ^^^^ Ezit the Second being appointed governor ««237. of Armenia by the Caliph of Bagdad, named Haron, marched to take possession of his go* yemment at the head of a numerous army. By means of promises, mildness, and threats of se* verity, he succeeded in tranquillizing the coun- try, and all became again subject to the power of the Saracens. All the considerable chiefs whose loyalty was most doubted, he kept near his person, and to show his generosity, after having demanded and received from the people hostages for their future obedience, he set them at liberty. Some time after thiSt however, he began to show less kindness in his disposition, for on a visit which he made to the city of Partav, he sent for the ArzruDisn princes Isaac and Hamazasp, and cnielly mar-
^' Haioui ty^ them. He then harrassed the nation era 236. \yj laying enormous taxes on them. These
�� �
