and became the admiration of
all his comrades. Under the banners of this adventurous warrior did
Tigranes toil with various fortunes during the space of many years;
sometimes victorious in the fight, sometimes baffled; at one time
crowned with conquest and glory, at another beset with dangers, covered
with wounds, and hunted like a wild beast through rocks and forests; yet
still the native courage of his temper sustained his spirits, and kept
him firm in the profession which he had chosen. At length, in a decisive
battle, in which the chieftain, under whom Tigranes had enlisted,
contended with the most powerful of his rivals, he had the honour of
retrieving the victory when his own party seemed totally routed; and,
after having penetrated the thickest squadrons of the enemy, to kill
their general with his own hand. From this moment he seemed to be in
possession of all that his ambition could desire. He was appointed
general of all the troops under the chief himself, whose repeated
victories had rendered him equal in power to the most celebrated
monarchs. Nor did his fortune stop even here; for, after a number of
successive battles, in which his party were generally victorious by his
experience and intrepidity, he was, on the unexpected death of the
chief, unanimously chosen by the whole nation to succeed him.

"In the mean time Sophron, free from envy, avarice, or ambition, pursued
the natural impulse of his character, and contented himself with a life
of virtuous obscurity; he passed his time in rural labours, in watching
his flocks, and in attending with all the duty of an affectionate child
upon his aged parents. Every morning he rose with the sun, and spreading
his innocent arms to heaven, thanked that Being who created all nature
for the continuance of life and health, and all the blessings he
enjoyed. His piety and virtue were rewarded with everything which a
temperate and rational mind can ask. All his rural labours succeeded in
the most ample manner; his flock was the fairest, the most healthy and
numerous of the district; he was loved and esteemed by the youth of the
neighbourhood, and equally respected by the aged, who pointed him out as
the example of every virtue to their families; but, what was more dear
than all the rest to such a mind as Sophron's, was to see himself the
joy, the comfort, and support of his parents, who frequently embraced
him with tears, and supplicated the Deity to reward such duty and