the eldest or the most favored of his sons. With the kingdoms of Persia
and India, he inherited the reputation and example of his father, the
service, in every rank, of his wise and valiant officers, and a general
system of administration, harmonized by time and political wisdom to
promote the happiness of the prince and people. But the royal youth
enjoyed a still more valuable blessing, the friendship of a sage who had
presided over his education, and who always preferred the honor to the
interest of his pupil, his interest to his inclination. In a dispute
with the Greek and Indian philosophers, Buzurg had once maintained, that
the most grievous misfortune of life is old age without the remembrance
of virtue; and our candor will presume that the same principle compelled
him, during three years, to direct the councils of the Persian empire.
His zeal was rewarded by the gratitude and docility of Hormouz, who
acknowledged himself more indebted to his preceptor than to his parent:
but when age and labor had impaired the strength, and perhaps the
faculties, of this prudent counsellor, he retired from court, and
abandoned the youthful monarch to his own passions and those of his
favorites. By the fatal vicissitude of human affairs, the same scenes
were renewed at Ctesiphon, which had been exhibited at Rome after the
death of Marcus Antoninus. The ministers of flattery and corruption, who
had been banished by his father, were recalled and cherished by the son;
the disgrace and exile of the friends of Nushirvan established their
tyranny; and virtue was driven by degrees from the mind of Hormouz, from
his palace, and from the government of the state. The faithful agents,
the eyes and ears of the king, informed him of the progress of disorder,
that the provincial governors flew to their prey with the fierceness of
lions and eagles, and that their rapine and injustice would teach the
most loyal of his subjects to abhor the name and authority of their
sovereign. The sincerity of this advice was punished with death; the
murmurs of the cities were despised, their tumults were quelled by
military execution: the intermediate powers between the throne and the
people were abolished; and the childish vanity of Hormouz, who affected
the daily use of the tiara, was fond of declaring, that he alone would
be the judge as well as the master of his kingdom. In every word, and in
every action, the son of Nushirvan degenerated from the virtues of his
father. His avarice defrauded the troops; his jealous caprice degraded
the satraps; the palace, the tribunals, the waters of the Tigris, were
stained with the blood of the innocent, and the tyrant exulted in the
sufferings and execution of thirteen thousand victims. As the excuse of
his cruelty, he sometimes condescended to observe, that the fears of
the Persians would be productive of hatred, and that their hatred must
terminate in rebellion but he forgot that his own guilt and folly had
inspired the sentiments which he deplored, and prepared the event which
he so justly apprehended. Exasperated by long and hopeless oppression,
the provinces of Babylon, Susa, and Carmania, erected the standard
of revolt; and the princes of Arabia, India, and Scythia, refused the
customary tribute to the unworthy successor of Nushirvan. The arms of
the Romans, in slow sieges and frequent inroads, afflicted the frontiers
of Mesopotamia and Assyria: one of their generals professed himself the
disciple of Scipio; and the soldiers were animated by a miraculous image
of Christ, whose mild aspect should never have been displayed in the
front of battle. At the same time, the eastern provinces of Persia were
invaded by the great khan, who passed the Oxus at the head of three
or four hundred thousand Turks. The imprudent Hormouz accepted their
perfidious and formidable aid; the cities of Khorassan or Bactriana were
commanded to open their gates the march of the Barbarians towards the
mountains of Hyrcania revealed the correspondence of the Turkish and
Roman arms; and their union must have subverted the throne of the house
of Sassan.
Persia had been lost by a king; it was saved by a hero. After his
revolt, Varanes or Bahram is stigmatized by the son of Hormouz as an
ungrateful slave; the proud and ambiguous reproach of despotism, since
he was truly descended from the ancient princes of Rei, one of the seven
families whose splendid, as well as substantial, prerogatives exalted
them above the heads of the Persian nobility. At the siege of Dara, the
valor of Bahram was signalized under the eyes of Nushirvan, and both the
father and son successively promoted him to the command of armies, the
government of Media, and the superintendence of the palace. The popular
prediction which marked him as the deliverer of Persia, might be
inspired by his past victories and extraordinary figure: the epithet
_Giubin_ is expressive of the quality of _dry wood_: he had the
strength and stature of a giant; and his savage countenance was
fancifully compared to that of a wild cat. While the nation trembled,
while Hormouz disguised his terror by the name of suspicion, and his
servants concealed their disloyalty under the mask of fear, Bahram alone
displayed his undaunted courage and apparent fidelity: and as soon as
he found that no more than twelve thousand soldiers would follow him
against the enemy; he prudently declared, that to this fatal number
Heaven had reserved the honors of the triumph. The steep and narrow
descent of the Pule Rudbar, or Hyrcanian rock, is the only pass through
which an army can penetrate into the territory of Rei and the plains
of Media. From the commanding heights, a band of resolute men might
overwhelm with stones and darts the myriads of the Turkish host: their
emperor and his son were transpierced with arrows; and the fugitives
were left, without counsel or provisions, to the revenge of an injured
people. The patriotism of the Persian general was stimulated by his
affection for the city of his forefathers: in the hour of victory, every
peasant became a soldier, and every soldier a hero; and their ardor was
kindled by the gorgeous spectacle of beds, and thrones, and tables of
massy gold, the spoils of Asia, and the luxury of the hostile camp. A
prince of a less malignant temper could not easily have forgiven
his benefactor; and the secret hatred of Hormouz was envenomed by a
malicious report, that Bahram had privately retained the most precious
fruits of his Turkish victory. But the approach of a Roman army on
the side of the Araxes compelled the implacable tyrant to smile and to
applaud; and the toils of Bahram were rewarded with the permission of
encountering a new enemy, by their skill and discipline more formidable
than a Scythian multitude. Elated by his recent success, he despatched
a herald with a bold defiance to the camp of the Romans, requesting them
to fix a day of battle, and to choose whether they would pass the river
themselves, or allow a free passage to the arms of the great king. The
lieutenant of the emperor Maurice preferred the safer alternative; and
this local circumstance, which would have enhanced the victory of
the Persians, rendered their defeat more bloody and their escape more
difficult. But the loss of his subjects, and the danger of his kingdom,
were overbalanced in the mind of Hormouz by the disgrace of his personal
enemy; and no sooner had Bahram collected and reviewed his forces, than
he received from a royal messenger the insulting gift of a distaff, a
spinning-wheel, and a complete suit of female apparel. Obedient to the
will of his sovereign he showed himself to the soldiers in this unworthy
disguise they resented his ignominy and their own; a shout of rebellion
ran through the ranks; and the general accepted their oath of fidelity
and vows of revenge. A second messenger, who had been commanded to bring
the rebel in chains, was trampled under the feet of an elephant, and
manifestos were diligently circulated, exhorting the Persians to assert
their freedom against an odious and contemptible tyrant. The defection
was rapid and universal; his loyal slaves were sacrificed to the public
fury; the troops deserted to the standard of Bahram; and the provinces
again saluted the deliverer of his country.
As the passes were faithfully guarded, Hormouz could only compute the
number of his enemies by the testimony of a guilty conscience, and the
daily defection of those who, in the hour of his distress, avenged their
wrongs, or forgot their obligations. He proudly displayed the ensigns of
royalty; but the city and palace of Modain had already escaped from
the hand of the tyrant. Among the victims of his cruelty, Bindoes, a
Sassanian prince, had been cast into a dungeon; his fetters were broken
by the zeal and courage of a brother; and he stood before the king at
the head of those trusty guards, who had been chosen as the ministers
of his confinement, and perhaps of his death. Alarmed by the hasty
intrusion and bold reproaches of the captive, Hormouz looked round,
but in vain, for advice or assistance; discovered that his strength
consisted in the obedience of others; and patiently yielded to the
single arm of Bindoes, who dragged him from the throne to the same
dungeon in which he himself had been so lately confined. At the first
tumult, Chosroes, the eldest of the sons of Hormouz, escaped from the
city; he was persuaded to return by the pressing and friendly invitation
of Bindoes, who promised to seat him on his father's throne, and who
expected to reign under the name of an inexperienced youth. In the just
assurance, that his accomplices could neither forgive nor hope to be
forgiven, and that every Persian might be trusted as the judge and enemy
of the tyrant, he instituted a public trial without a precedent and
without a copy in the annals of the East. The son of Nushirvan, who had
requested to plead in his own defence, was introduced as a criminal into
the full assembly of the nobles and satraps. He was heard with decent
attention as long as he expatiated on the advantages of order and
obedience, the danger of innovation, and the inevitable discord of those
who had encouraged each other to trample on their lawful and hereditary
sovereign. By a pathetic appeal to their humanity, he extorted that pity
which is seldom refused to the fallen fortunes of a king; and while they
beheld the abject posture and squalid appearance of the prisoner,
his tears, his chains, and the marks of ignominious stripes, it was
impossible to forget how recently they had adored the divine splendor of
his diadem and purple. But an angry murmur arose in the assembly as soon
as he presumed to vindicate his conduct, and to applaud the victories
of his reign. He defined the duties of a king, and the Persian nobles
listened with a smile of contempt; they were fired with indignation
when he dared to vilify the character of Chosroes; and by the indiscreet
offer of resigning the sceptre to the second of his sons, he subscribed
his own condemnation, and sacrificed the life of his own innocent
favorite. The mangled bodies of the boy and his mother were exposed to
the people; the eyes of Hormouz were pierced with a hot needle; and the
punishment of the father was succeeded by the coronation of his eldest
son. Chosroes had ascended the throne without guilt, and his piety
strove to alleviate the misery of the abdicated monarch; from the
dungeon he removed Hormouz to an apartment of the palace, supplied with
liberality the consolations of sensual enjoyment, and patiently endured
the furious sallies of his resentment and despair. He might despise the
resentment of a blind and unpopular tyrant, but the tiara was trembling
on his head, till he could subvert the power, or acquire the friendship,
of the great Bahram, who sternly denied the justice of a revolution, in
which himself and his soldiers, the true representatives of Persia, had
never been consulted. The offer of a general amnesty, and of the second
rank in his kingdom, was answered by an epistle from Bahram, friend of
the gods, conqueror of men, and enemy of tyrants, the satrap of satraps,
general of the Persian armies, and a prince adorned with the title of
eleven virtues. He commands Chosroes, the son of Hormouz, to shun the
example and fate of his father, to confine the traitors who had been
released from their chains, to deposit in some holy place the diadem
which he had usurped, and to accept from his gracious benefactor the
pardon of his faults and the government of a province. The rebel might
not be proud, and the king most assuredly was not humble; but the one
was conscious of his strength, the other was sensible of his weakness;
and even the modest language of his reply still left room for treaty and
reconciliation. Chosroes led into the field the slaves of the palace and
the populace of the capital: they beheld with terror the banners of a
veteran army; they were encompassed and surprised by the evolutions
of the general; and the satraps who had deposed Hormouz, received the
punishment of their revolt, or expiated their first treason by a second
and more criminal act of disloyalty. The life and liberty of Chosroes
were saved, but he was reduced to the necessity of imploring aid or
refuge in some foreign land; and the implacable Bindoes, anxious to
secure an unquestionable title, hastily returned to the palace, and
ended, with a bowstring, the wretched existence of the son of Nushirvan.
While Chosroes despatched the preparations of his retreat, he
deliberated with his remaining friends, whether he should lurk in the
valleys of Mount Caucasus, or fly to the tents of the Turks, or solicit
the protection of the emperor. The long emulation of the successors
of Artaxerxes and Constantine increased his reluctance to appear as a
suppliant in a rival court; but he weighed the forces of the Romans,
and prudently considered that the neighborhood of Syria would render his
escape more easy and their succors more effectual. Attended only by his
concubines, and a troop of thirty guards, he secretly departed from the
capital, followed the banks of the Euphrates, traversed the desert,
and halted at the distance of ten miles from Circesium. About the third
watch of the night, the Roman prÊfect was informed of his approach, and
he introduced the royal stranger to the fortress at the dawn of day.
From thence the king of Persia was conducted to the more honorable
residence of Hierapolis; and Maurice dissembled his pride, and displayed
his benevolence, at the reception of the letters and ambassadors of
the grandson of Nushirvan. They humbly represented the vicissitudes of
fortune and the common interest of princes, exaggerated the ingratitude
of Bahram, the agent of the evil principle, and urged, with specious
argument, that it was for the advantage of the Romans themselves to
support the two monarchies which balance the world, the two great
luminaries by whose salutary influence it is vivified and adorned. The
anxiety of Chosroes was soon relieved by the assurance, that the emperor
had espoused the cause of justice and royalty; but Maurice prudently
declined the expense and delay of his useless visit to Constantinople.
In the name of his generous benefactor, a rich diadem was presented
to the fugitive prince, with an inestimable gift of jewels and gold; a
powerful army was assembled on the frontiers of Syria and Armenia, under
the command of the valiant and faithful Narses, and this general, of
his own nation, and his own choice, was directed to pass the Tigris, and
never to sheathe his sword till he had restored Chosroes to the throne
of his ancestors. The enterprise, however splendid, was less arduous
than it might appear. Persia had already repented of her fatal rashness,
which betrayed the heir of the house of Sassan to the ambition of a
rebellious subject: and the bold refusal of the Magi to consecrate his
usurpation, compelled Bahram to assume the sceptre, regardless of the
laws and prejudices of the nation. The palace was soon distracted with
conspiracy, the city with tumult, the provinces with insurrection; and
the cruel execution of the guilty and the suspected served to irritate
rather than subdue the public discontent. No sooner did the grandson of
Nushirvan display his own and the Roman banners beyond the Tigris, than
he was joined, each day, by the increasing multitudes of the nobility
and people; and as he advanced, he received from every side the grateful
offerings of the keys of his cities and the heads of his enemies. As
soon as Modain was freed from the presence of the usurper, the loyal
inhabitants obeyed the first summons of Mebodes at the head of only two
thousand horse, and Chosroes accepted the sacred and precious ornaments
of the palace as the pledge of their truth and the presage of his
approaching success. After the junction of the Imperial troops, which
Bahram vainly struggled to prevent, the contest was decided by two
battles on the banks of the Zab, and the confines of Media. The Romans,
with the faithful subjects of Persia, amounted to sixty thousand, while
the whole force of the usurper did not exceed forty thousand men: the
two generals signalized their valor and ability; but the victory was
finally determined by the prevalence of numbers and discipline. With the
remnant of a broken army, Bahram fled towards the eastern provinces of
the Oxus: the enmity of Persia reconciled him to the Turks; but his days
were shortened by poison, perhaps the most incurable of poisons; the
stings of remorse and despair, and the bitter remembrance of lost glory.
Yet the modern Persians still commemorate the exploits of Bahram; and
some excellent laws have prolonged the duration of his troubled and
transitory reign.
The restoration of Chosroes was celebrated with feasts and executions;
and the music of the royal banquet was often disturbed by the groans
of dying or mutilated criminals. A general pardon might have diffused
comfort and tranquillity through a country which had been shaken by
the late revolutions; yet, before the sanguinary temper of Chosroes is
blamed, we should learn whether the Persians had not been accustomed
either to dread the rigor, or to despise the weakness, of their
sovereign. The revolt of Bahram, and the conspiracy of the satraps, were
impartially punished by the revenge or justice of the conqueror; the
merits of Bindoes himself could not purify his hand from the guilt
of royal blood: and the son of Hormouz was desirous to assert his own
innocence, and to vindicate the sanctity of kings. During the vigor of
the Roman power, several princes were seated on the throne of Persia by
the arms and the authority of the first CÊsars. But their new subjects
were soon disgusted with the vices or virtues which they had imbibed in
a foreign land; the instability of their dominion gave birth to a vulgar
observation, that the choice of Rome was solicited and rejected with
equal ardor by the capricious levity of Oriental slaves. But the glory
of Maurice was conspicuous in the long and fortunate reign of his _son_
and his ally. A band of a thousand Romans, who continued to guard the
person of Chosroes, proclaimed his confidence in the fidelity of the
strangers; his growing strength enabled him to dismiss this unpopular
aid, but he steadily professed the same gratitude and reverence to his
adopted father; and till the death of Maurice, the peace and alliance of
the two empires were faithfully maintained. Yet the mercenary friendship
of the Roman prince had been purchased with costly and important gifts;
the strong cities of Martyropolis and Dara were restored, and the
Persarmenians became the willing subjects of an empire, whose eastern
limit was extended, beyond the example of former times, as far as the
banks of the Araxes, and the neighborhood of the Caspian. A pious hope
was indulged, that the church as well as the state might triumph in
this revolution: but if Chosroes had sincerely listened to the Christian
bishops, the impression was erased by the zeal and eloquence of the
Magi: if he was armed with philosophic indifference, he accommodated his
belief, or rather his professions, to the various circumstances of an
exile and a sovereign. The imaginary conversion of the king of Persia
was reduced to a local and superstitious veneration for Sergius, one
of the saints of Antioch, who heard his prayers and appeared to him in
dreams; he enriched the shrine with offerings of gold and silver, and
ascribed to this invisible patron the success of his arms, and the
pregnancy of Sira, a devout Christian and the best beloved of his wives.
The beauty of Sira, or Schirin, her wit, her musical talents, are still
famous in the history, or rather in the romances, of the East: her own
name is expressive, in the Persian tongue, of sweetness and grace; and
the epithet of _Parviz_ alludes to the charms of her royal lover. Yet
Sira never shared the passions which she inspired, and the bliss of
Chosroes was tortured by a jealous doubt, that while he possessed her
person, she had bestowed her affections on a meaner favorite.
Chapter XLVI: Troubles In Persia.--Part II.