nded in the
dome, to imitate the motions of the planets and the constellations of
the zodiac. [67] While the Persian monarch contemplated the wonders of
his art and power, he received an epistle from an obscure citizen of
Mecca, inviting him to acknowledge Mahomet as the apostle of God. He
rejected the invitation, and tore the epistle. "It is thus," exclaimed
the Arabian prophet, "that God will tear the kingdom, and reject the
supplications of Chosroes." [68] [] Placed on the verge of the two great
empires of the East, Mahomet observed with secret joy the progress of
their mutual destruction; and in the midst of the Persian triumphs,
he ventured to foretell, that before many years should elapse, victory
should again return to the banners of the Romans. [69]

[Footnote 63: The genuine acts of St. Anastasius are published in those
of the with general council, from whence Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D.
614, 626, 627) and Butler (Lives of the Saints, vol. i. p. 242--248)
have taken their accounts. The holy martyr deserted from the Persian to
the Roman army, became a monk at Jerusalem, and insulted the worship of
the Magi, which was then established at Caesarea in Palestine.]

[Footnote 64: Abulpharagius, Dynast. p. 99. Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p.
14.]

[Footnote 65: D'Anville, Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom.
xxxii. p. 568--571.]

[Footnote 66: The difference between the two races consists in one or
two humps; the dromedary has only one; the size of the proper camel is
larger; the country he comes from, Turkistan or Bactriana; the dromedary
is confined to Arabia and Africa. Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. xi. p.
211, &c. Aristot. Hist. Animal. tom. i. l. ii. c. 1, tom. ii. p. 185.]

[Footnote 6611: The ruins of these scenes of Khoosroo's magnificence
have been visited by Sir R. K. Porter. At the ruins of Tokht i Bostan,
he saw a gorgeous picture of a hunt, singularly illustrative of this
passage. Travels, vol. ii. p. 204. Kisra Shirene, which he afterwards
examined, appears to have been the palace of Dastagerd. Vol. ii. p.
173--175.--M.]

[Footnote 67: Theophanes, Chronograph. p. 268. D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque
Orientale, p. 997. The Greeks describe the decay, the Persians the
splendor, of Dastagerd; but the former speak from the modest witness of
the eye, the latter from the vague report of the ear.]

[Footnote 68: The historians of Mahomet, Abulfeda (in Vit. Mohammed,
p. 92, 93) and Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, to