in, Voyage en Perse, tom. i. p. 279,
280. D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Oriental. p. 714.]

[Footnote 11: Theophylact. l. iii. c. 18. The story of the seven
Persians is told in the third book of Herodotus; and their noble
descendants are often mentioned, especially in the fragments of Ctesias.
Yet the independence of Otanes (Herodot. l. iii. c. 83, 84) is hostile
to the spirit of despotism, and it may not seem probable that the seven
families could survive the revolutions of eleven hundred years. They
might, however, be represented by the seven ministers, (Brisson, de
Regno Persico, l. i. p. 190;) and some Persian nobles, like the kings
of Pontus (Polyb l. v. p. 540) and Cappadocia, (Diodor. Sicul. l. xxxi.
tom. ii. p. 517,) might claim their descent from the bold companions of
Darius.]

[Footnote 1111: He is generally called Baharam Choubeen, Baharam, the
stick-like, probably from his appearance. Malcolm, vol. i. p. 120.--M.]

[Footnote 1112: The Persian historians say, that Hormouz entreated his
general to increase his numbers; but Baharam replied, that experience
had taught him that it was the quality, not the number of soldiers,
which gave success. * * * No man in his army was under forty years, and
none above fifty. Malcolm, vol. i. p. 121--M.]

[Footnote 12: See an accurate description of this mountain by Olearius,
(Voyage en Perse, p. 997, 998,) who ascended it with much difficulty and
danger in his return from Ispahan to the Caspian Sea.]

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 h