s 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. [18] Yet the mercenary
friendship of the Roman prince had been purchased with costly and
important gifts; the strong cities of Martyropolis and Dara [1811]
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, [19] 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. [20] The beauty of Sira, or Schirin, [21] 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. [22]

[Footnote 18: Experimentis cognitum est Barbaros malle Roma petere
reges quam habere. These experiments are admirably represented in the
invitation and expulsion of Vonones, (Annal. ii. 1--3,) Tiridates,
(Annal. vi. 32-44,) and Meherdates, (Annal. xi. 10, xii. 10-14.) The eye
of Tacitus seems to have transpierced the camp of the Parthians and