15. Theophylact, l. iii. c. 9--16
Agathias, l. iv. p. 140.]

The throne of Chosroes Nushirvan was filled by Hormouz, or Hormisdas,
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 [8] 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