ist, whose mild aspect should never have been displayed in the
front of battle. At the same time, the eastern provinces of Persia were
invaded by the great khan, who passed the Oxus at the head of three
or four hundred thousand Turks. The imprudent Hormouz accepted their
perfidious and formidable aid; the cities of Khorassan or Bactriana were
commanded to open their gates the march of the Barbarians towards the
mountains of Hyrcania revealed the correspondence of the Turkish and
Roman arms; and their union must have subverted the throne of the house
of Sassan.

Persia had been lost by a king; it was saved by a hero. After his
revolt, Varanes or Bahram is stigmatized by the son of Hormouz as an
ungrateful slave; the proud and ambiguous reproach of despotism, since
he was truly descended from the ancient princes of Rei, one of the seven
families whose splendid, as well as substantial, prerogatives exalted
them above the heads of the Persian nobility. At the siege of Dara, the
valor of Bahram was signalized under the eyes of Nushirvan, and both the
father and son successively promoted him to the command of armies, the
government of Media, and the superintendence of the palace. The popular
prediction which marked him as the deliverer of Persia, might be
inspired by his past victories and extraordinary figure: the epithet
_Giubin_ is expressive of the quality of _dry wood_: he had the
strength and stature of a giant; and his savage countenance was
fancifully compared to that of a wild cat. While the nation trembled,
while Hormouz disguised his terror by the name of suspicion, and his
servants concealed their disloyalty under the mask of fear, Bahram alone
displayed his undaunted courage and apparent fidelity: and as soon as
he found that no more than twelve thousand soldiers would follow him
against the enemy; he prudently declared, that to this fatal number
Heaven had reserved the honors of the triumph. The steep and narrow
descent of the Pule Rudbar, or Hyrcanian rock, is the only pass through
which an army can penetrate into the territory of Rei and the plains
of Media. From the commanding heights, a band of resolute men might
overwhelm with stones and darts the myriads of the Turkish host: their
emperor and his son were transpierced with arrows; and the fugitives
were left, without counsel or provisions, to the revenge of an injured
people. The patriotism of the Persian general was stimulated by his
affection for the cit