was probably born about the year 250.]

[Footnote 54: See the sixty-second and sixty-third books of Dion
Cassius.]

When Tiridates appeared on the frontiers of Armenia, he was received
with an unfeigned transport of joy and loyalty. During twenty-six years,
the country had experienced the real and imaginary hardships of a
foreign yoke. The Persian monarchs adorned their new conquest with
magnificent buildings; but those monuments had been erected at the
expense of the people, and were abhorred as badges of slavery. The
apprehension of a revolt had inspired the most rigorous precautions:
oppression had been aggravated by insult, and the consciousness of the
public hatred had been productive of every measure that could render it
still more implacable. We have already remarked the intolerant spirit of
the Magian religion. The statues of the deified kings of Armenia, and
the sacred images of the sun and moon, were broke in pieces by the zeal
of the conqueror; and the perpetual fire of Ormuzd was kindled and
preserved upon an altar erected on the summit of Mount Bagavan. [55] It
was natural, that a people exasperated by so many injuries, should arm
with zeal in the cause of their independence, their religion, and their
hereditary sovereign. The torrent bore down every obstacle, and the
Persian garrisons retreated before its fury. The nobles of Armenia flew
to the standard of Tiridates, all alleging their past merit, offering
their future service, and soliciting from the new king those honors and
rewards from which they had been excluded with disdain under the foreign
government. [56] The command of the army was bestowed on Artavasdes,
whose father had saved the infancy of Tiridates, and whose family had
been massacred for that generous action. The brother of Artavasdes
obtained the government of a province. One of the first military
dignities was conferred on the satrap Otas, a man of singular temperance
and fortitude, who presented to the king his sister [57] and a
considerable treasure, both of which, in a sequestered fortress, Otas
had preserved from violation. Among the Armenian nobles appeared an
ally, whose fortunes are too remarkable to pass unnoticed. His name was
Mamgo, [571] his origin was Scythian, and the horde which acknowledge his
authority had encamped a very few years before on the skirts of the
Chinese empire, [58] which at that time extended as far as the
neighborhood of Sogdiana. [59] Having incurred the