y were thus engaged, the officer, who had turned back at the
first noise of the fray, approached, and ordering his men to desist,
inquired into the occasion of the contest. Sophron then recounted, with
so much modesty and respect, the indignities and insults he had
received, and the unprovoked attack of the soldier, which had obliged
him to defend his own life, that the officer, who had a real respect for
courage, was charmed with the behaviour of the young man. He therefore
reproved his men for their disorderly manners, praised the intrepidity
of Sophron, and ordered his lamb to be restored to him, with which he
joyfully departed.

"Sophron was scarcely out of sight, when Tigranes, who was then by
accident returning from the chase, met the same party upon their march.
Their military attire and glittering arms instantly struck his mind with
admiration. He stopped to gaze upon them as they passed; and the
officer, who remarked the martial air and well-proportioned limbs of
Tigranes, entered into conversation with him, and made him the same
proposals which he had before done to Sophron. Such incentives were
irresistible to a vain and ambitious mind; the young man in an instant
forgot his friends, his country, and his parents, and marched away with
all the pleasure that strong presumption and aspiring hopes could raise.
Nor was it long before he had an opportunity of signalizing his
intrepidity.

"Asia was at that time overrun by numerous bands of savage warriors,
under different and independent chiefs. That country, which has in every
age been celebrated for the mildness of the climate and the fertility of
the soil, seems to be destined to groan under all the horrors of eternal
servitude. Whether these effects are merely produced by fortune, or
whether the natural advantages it enjoys have a necessary tendency to
soften the minds of the inhabitants to sloth and effeminacy, it is
certain that the people of Asia have, in general, been the unresisting
prey of every invader. At this time several fierce and barbarous nations
had broken in upon its territory, and, after covering its fertile plains
with carnage and desolation, were contending with each other for the
superiority.

"Under the most enterprising of these rival chiefs was Tigranes now
enrolled; and in the very first engagement at which he was present, he
gave such uncommon proofs of valour, that he was distinguished by the
general with marks of particular regard,