to inform their king of the true spirit of the
religion which he persecuted. The practice of benevolence in the midst
of war must always tend to assuage the animosity of contending
nations; and I wish to persuade myself, that Acacius contributed to the
restoration of peace. In the conference which was held on the limits of
the two empires, the Roman ambassadors degraded the personal character
of their sovereign, by a vain attempt to magnify the extent of his
power; when they seriously advised the Persians to prevent, by a timely
accommodation, the wrath of a monarch, who was yet ignorant of this
distant war. A truce of one hundred years was solemnly ratified;
and although the revolutions of Armenia might threaten the public
tranquillity, the essential conditions of this treaty were respected
near fourscore years by the successors of Constantine and Artaxerxes.

[Footnote 80: Theodoret, l. v. c. 39 Tillemont. Mem. Eccles tom. xii.
356-364. Assemanni, Bibliot. Oriental. tom. iii. p. 396, tom. iv. p. 61.
Theodoret blames the rashness of Abdas, but extols the constancy of his
martyrdom. Yet I do not clearly understand the casuistry which prohibits
our repairing the damage which we have unlawfully committed.]

[Footnote 81: Socrates (l. vii. c. 18, 19, 20, 21) is the best author
for the Persian war. We may likewise consult the three Chronicles, the
Paschal and those of Marcellinus and Malala.]

Since the Roman and Parthian standards first encountered on the banks of
the Euphrates, the kingdom of Armenia [82] was alternately oppressed by
its formidable protectors; and in the course of this History, several
events, which inclined the balance of peace and war, have been already
related. A disgraceful treaty had resigned Armenia to the ambition of
Sapor; and the scale of Persia appeared to preponderate. But the royal
race of Arsaces impatiently submitted to the house of Sassan; the
turbulent nobles asserted, or betrayed, their hereditary independence;
and the nation was still attached to the Christian princes of
Constantinople. In the beginning of the fifth century, Armenia was
divided by the progress of war and faction; [83] and the unnatural
division precipitated the downfall of that ancient monarchy. Chosroes,
the Persian vassal, reigned over the Eastern and most extensive portion
of the country; while the Western province acknowledged the jurisdiction
of Arsaces, and the supremacy of the emperor Arcadius. [8111] After
the