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. 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. 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 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, 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,
which at that time extended as far as the neighborhood of Sogdiana.
Having incurred the displeasure of his master, Mamgo, with his
followers, retired to the banks of the Oxus, and implored the protection
of Sapor. The emperor of China claimed the fugitive, and alleged
the rights of sovereignty. The Persian monarch pleaded the laws of
hospitality, and with some difficulty avoided a war, by the promise that
he would banish Mamgo to the uttermost parts of the