d of the confusions that followed that
emperor's death, presented themselves in vain to his ambition. Instead
of expelling the Romans, as he pretended, from the continent of Asia,
he found himself unable to wrest from their hands the little province of
Mesopotamia.

The reign of Artaxerxes, which, from the last defeat of the Parthians,
lasted only fourteen years, forms a memorable aera in the history of the
East, and even in that of Rome. His character seems to have been marked
by those bold and commanding features, that generally distinguish the
princes who conquer, from those who inherit an empire. Till the last
period of the Persian monarchy, his code of laws was respected as the
groundwork of their civil and religious policy. Several of his sayings
are preserved. One of them in particular discovers a deep insight into
the constitution of government. "The authority of the prince," said
Artaxerxes, "must be defended by a military force; that force can only
be maintained by taxes; all taxes must, at last, fall upon agriculture;
and agriculture can never flourish except under the protection of
justice and moderation." Artaxerxes bequeathed his new empire, and his
ambitious designs against the Romans, to Sapor, a son not unworthy of
his great father; but those designs were too extensive for the power
of Persia, and served only to involve both nations in a long series of
destructive wars and reciprocal calamities.

The Persians, long since civilized and corrupted, were very far from
possessing the martial independence, and the intrepid hardiness, both
of mind and body, which have rendered the northern barbarians masters of
the world. The science of war, that constituted the more rational
force of Greece and Rome, as it now does of Europe, never made any
considerable progress in the East. Those disciplined evolutions
which harmonize and animate a confused multitude, were unknown to the
Persians. They were equally unskilled in the arts of constructing,
besieging, or defending regular fortifications. They trusted more to
their numbers than to their courage; more to their courage than to their
discipline. The infantry was a half-armed, spiritless crowd of peasants,
levied in haste by the allurements of plunder, and as easily dispersed
by a victory as by a defeat. The monarch and his nobles transported into
the camp the pride and luxury of the seraglio. Their military operations
were impeded by a useless train of women, eunuc