indeed, they were received with marked distinction by the the Shahinshah, who condescended to converse with them affably, and encouraged their attendance on his person. In philosophy, however, they found that he had tasted merely the rudiments, and had never approached the sublimities of their fine conceptions. The political views common to barbarian monarchs had been in no way modified by his superficial knowledge, nor did it avail to induce even a semblance of agreement during the discussions they held with him. Chosroes was proud of their apparent homage, and would have retained them with him at any cost, but the ethics of the Orient were insufferable in their eyes, and the party gave the most convincing proof of their sincerity by declining his generous proposals and electing to return to the precarious life of their native land. At the moment of their departure the peace negotiations with Justinian were pending, and Chosroes showed no little magnanimity by insisting that the treaty should contain a clause granting them the right to occupy their former abodes and to indulge their metaphysical speculations secure from official molestation.[1]
No long time elapsed before the Shahinshah was consoled for the loss of Damascius and his companions by another Byzantine immigrant, who was more fitted to play the part of court philosopher than the earnest Neoplatonists. A certain Uranius, nominally a physician, having skimmed the works of the philosophers, pretended to a profound acquaintance
- ↑ The narrative of this migration to Persia is due to Agathias (ii, 28, et seq.), who does not, however, mention that they were driven out by legislation, but represents them merely as dissatisfied with the religion of the Empire. He speaks of them with the greatest respect; they were the "fine flower" of the philosophy of his age.
