ors. [1711] 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.

[Footnote 16: After the battle of Pharsalia, the Pompey of Lucan (l.
viii. 256--455) holds a similar debate. He was himself desirous of
seeking the Parthians: but his companions abhorred the unnatural
alliance and the adverse prejudices might operate as forcibly on
Chosroes and his companions, who could describe, with the same
vehem