1 Manes, who suffered an ignominious death, may be deemed a
Magian as well as a Christian heretic.]

[Footnote 30: Hyde de Religione Persar. c. 21.]

[Footnote 301: It is incorrect to attribute these persecutions to
Artaxerxes. The Jews were held in honor by him, and their schools
flourished during his reign. Compare Jost, Geschichte der Israeliter, b.
xv. 5, with Basnage. Sapor was forced by the people to temporary
severities; but their real persecution did not begin till the reigns of
Yezdigerd and Kobad. Hist. of Jews, iii. 236. According to Sozomen, i.
viii., Sapor first persecuted the Christians. Manes was put to death by
Varanes the First, A. D. 277. Beausobre, Hist. de Man. i. 209.--M.]

[Footnote 302: In the testament of Ardischer in Ferdusi, the poet assigns
these sentiments to the dying king, as he addresses his son: Never
forget that as a king, you are at once the protector of religion and
of your country. Consider the altar and the throne as inseparable; they
must always sustain each other. Malcolm's Persia. i. 74--M]

II. Artaxerxes, by his valor and conduct, had wrested the sceptre of the
East from the ancient royal family of Parthia. There still remained
the more difficult task of establishing, throughout the vast extent of
Persia, a uniform and vigorous administration. The weak indulgence of
the Arsacides had resigned to their sons and brothers the principal
provinces, and the greatest offices of the kingdom in the nature of
hereditary possessions. The vitaxoe, or eighteen most powerful satraps,
were permitted to assume the regal title; and the vain pride of the
monarch was delighted with a nominal dominion over so many vassal kings.
Even tribes of barbarians in their mountains, and the Greek cities of
Upper Asia, [31] within their walls, scarcely acknowledged, or seldom
obeyed. any superior; and the Parthian empire exhibited, under other
names, a lively image of the feudal system [32] which has since prevailed
in Europe. But the active victor, at the head of a numerous and
disciplined army, visited in person every province of Persia. The
defeat of the boldest rebels, and the reduction of the strongest
fortifications, [33] diffused the terror of his arms, and prepared the
way for the peaceful reception of his authority. An obstinate resistance
was fatal to the chiefs; but their followers were treated with lenity.
[34] A cheerful submission was rewarded with honors and riches, but the
prudent Artaxe